Shades of Gray
by Our Eleventh Hour
Summary: AU. Sam never left for Stanford, choosing to stay a part of the Winchester family instead. After a hunt takes an unexpected twist, the Winchesters are faced with a new challenge. Can they come to think of this curse as a gift? Rated for violence&language.
1. Chapter 1

**AU: Sam doesn't go to Stanford but instead chooses to stick with his family.**

**Ages: Sam is 18, Dean is 22, and John is ?.**

**Spoilers: Season 1, possibly Season 2.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own what you recognize. Kripke & CW own Winchesters.**

**A/N: I was thinking about the famous fight between Sam and John before Sam went to Stanford and thought...'what if he didn't leave?' Then my thoughts began turning into this story. My friend and I had been brainstorming one day the year before last about some events that have been 'manipulated' to fig this story. 90% of this story came from those ideas, the rest out of my head.**

**Hope you enjoy it, so far it's been a blast writing it.**

Sam Winchester bit back a sigh and grabbed his duffel bag. His family was moving...again. A month ago it would have killed him to be moving, but now that he was out of high school it didn't matter as much. Not that school mattered in his family. Grades and a social life were at the bottom of the list when it came to priorities. His dad said Sam only went to school to keep CPS off their backs.

While Dean had dropped out at sixteen, Sam had decided to keep in school. He wanted out of the hunting life. Sam wanted to life the apple pie life, find a girl, get a good job, and keep safe. He didn't want to risk his life every moment of every day.

He was glad he saved people, don't get him wrong, but he was fighting for a cause for a woman he'd never known. It was different for Dean and their dad, they'd known Mary Winchester. Sam never had. He'd never had a normal life despite being 'kept in the dark' for eight years of his life. When he had attempted to get out of the hunting life, at least long enough to go to college, his father had given him an option: he could stay with the family or he could leave the family for good.

_You walk out that door, you don't come back._

Sam had looked at Dean for some sort of support, help even, but all he found was his brother looking half-betrayed and half-scared. Instead of chasing his own dreams, Sam nodded his head and went back to the bedroom he was sharing with Dean in the crappy house the Winchesters were staying in. He had shut the door with a soft 'click' before plopping down onto the small mattress in the room.

"Come on, Sam." Dean's voice pulled him from his thoughts. Sam looked up to see his older brother walk out the motel door. Since that night one month ago, the air between the two brothers had been bordering on awkward and tense. Gone was the brotherly banter Sam had grown up with his whole life.

He knew Dean was ticked and there was always a trace of fear in his eyes when Sam went out on his own, even if it was to grab a bite to eat. Sam had always been able to read his brother, and vice versa, but it was times like these when he wished he couldn't. Dean was always hanging around more than he had before the incident a month ago. The youngest Winchester wasn't sure but he was guessing it had to do with the fact Dean thought he'd run off the second he could. Sam had earned a full scholarship to Stanford and he still had a couple more weeks before they would give the money to someone else.

"Coming." Sam said though he already knew Dean wouldn't hear him. He glanced around the room one more time to make sure he had his things before carrying his duffel out the door.

*Supernatural*

The youngest Winchester jerked awake, half-jolting up in the passenger seat of the Impala. He calmed his breathing before looking out the window, trying to guess where they were.

"We're in Georgia."

Sam faced his brother, "Where are we going?"

"Small town called Colesing."

He nodded and pulled out his cell phone to check the time. The digits told him it was one in the afternoon. "When are we stopping for food?"

His brother shrugged, "Probably soon. We've still got a little ways until we hit Colesing." Sam gave another nod, this was probably the longest conversation he'd had with his brother where both parties were calm. Maybe things would finally get back to normal. The younger hunter considered calling his father to ask to stop for food, but decided against it. His dad still wasn't over his attempt to leave for college.

About forty-five minutes later, the truck ahead of them that contained one John Winchester pulled off on to an exit. When the two vehicles were parked at a small diner, they made their way inside and sat down.

The diner was like every other diner Sam had been to. A mixture of booths and tables littered the place. A counter was in the back, behind it was a door that led to the kitchen. Doors marking bathrooms were placed to the right of the counter. The Winchesters picked a small booth in the back corner on the left of the counter. John faced the door while his sons faced the wall behind him.

Accepting the menu from his brother, Sam scanned through the items. He settled on a grilled cheese, not feeling up to any comments his brother might have about eating the 'girly healthy food' he enjoyed.

They didn't have to wait long for a middle-aged waitress, Fiona according to her name tag, to take their orders of beverages and food. Once she left John began briefing his sons on the upcoming hunt.

"There've been three disappearances in two days," he began, "It fits the lunar cycle, Bobby thinks it might be a werewolf."

"Did they have anything in common?" Sam questioned, a natural curiosity coating his tone.

"Three men from different parts of town, different jobs, different ages, and they all went to different schools." Dean informed his brother. Sam hadn't realized his brother had already been filled in on the hunt. Not that that was anything new, Sam had to hold back an eye roll. He was always the last to be filled in.

"Right, good job Dean." John praised his oldest. Dean nodded and looked down at his menu, ignoring the fact he'd already ordered. John's praise didn't come often and it came even less to his sons.

Sam resisted the urge to sigh. Dean received more praise than he had ever since Sam had hit the teen years. It seemed that no matter what Sam could never do anything right in his father's eyes. Dean, on the other hand, was the good soldier. Not that Sam was jealous. Not really. He wasn't jealous...per se. It was more of the fact that Sam felt like a disappointment at times. Sure, his dad loved him and Dean both, but it was clear who was the favorite.

Eventually, the waitress returned with their food. The family of three ate in mostly silence, each caught up in their own thoughts. Sam was trying to figure out how in the world his meal could be considered food, Dean occupied himself with the upcoming hunt and his delicious hamburger, and John discreetly watched his sons.

He could have lost his youngest son. Hell, if he'd lost Sam he'd have lost Dean too. The boys lived off of one another, were each others' rocks. They were the stability in their own lives, unlike John who came and went for more than half of their lives.

In a way he was proud as could be of Sam. A full ride to Stanford was fantastic, especially considering the fact Sam had transferred to so many schools his whole life. He was independent, ready to take on the world. Wasn't that what parenting was about? Or was it about keeping your children safe? In the hunting world you couldn't have both. Sam learning to become some doctor or lawyer or teacher or whatever he wanted wasn't going to keep him safe. Training, keeping up to date with the latest weapons, memorizing exorcisms, these things were going to keep him alive. And if what John had discovered about the Yellow Eyed Demon, Sam was going to need all the help he could get, even if the boy didn't want it.

Once the trio were finished eating, they were back on the road for another couple of hours. Dean drove the whole time, refusing to let Sam do any of the driving. Whether it was because he was mad or honestly scared of Sam hurting the car, Sam wasn't completely sure. Dean was odd like that.

Finally, Sam saw the large sign that welcomed him and his family to Colesing, Georgia. The Impala followed John's truck to the Good Night Inn and parked next to it. John checked them in, that parental mentality of his wanting to keep his sons from being seen by the motel manager. He was well aware that his sons were legally adults, but after years of motels and creepy managers he found it much safer for his boys if they just waited by the cars instead of accompanying him to pay for a room.

Key card in hand, he went back to the two vehicles and motioned for his boys to follow him. The three grabbed their bags and headed to their room. 'Brad Gilligan' had purchased a room at the far end of the motel away from the main lobby.

Entering the room, Sam was slightly impressed with it's condition. The place actually looked clean. Sure, there were a couple stains on the walls but what place didn't have stains? The two queen beds were neatly made up with some tacky design on the comforter. The carpet was a brown color, but not the painfully ugly brown a lot of motels Sam had been to had had.

Sam went to the furthest bed from the door and tossed his duffel against the wall. It was some kind of unspoken rule that Sam was always put on the far side of the room away from the door. Dean slept next to Sam and John was always in front of the door. While each Winchester knew how to handle themselves, John wanted to be the first line of defense between whatever came through the door and his sons. It'd been that way as far back as Sam could remember.

"Get changed," John ordered, dropping his own bag in a corner of the room. "We're going to talk to the families."

**Reviews welcomed and appreciated. Since this story hasn't been written all the way out yet, I'm going to be posting about once a week-this way you guys/gals know when to expect an update and I can work on this thing. I've re-read this thing several times so I hope it's good enough.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Please see previous chapter for all warnings, disclaimers, and all that other technical stuff.**

**Also, I forgot to mention this in the first chapter: Story inspired by two other stories. I'd tell you what they are but they would definitely spoil this story...so...if you're honestly curious send me a PM, if you can wait then the stories will be revealed in later chapters when nothing can be spoiled ;).**

Sam climbed out of his dad's truck and shrugged on his suit jacket. John had sent Dean to pick up supplies while he and Sam were going to talk to the families. In most cases, Sam was the one who was sent on supply runs. It gave him a job to do and got him out of his dad's hair for an hour or two, which was fine with Sam. But he couldn't really figure out why his dad was sending Dean to town instead.

The youngest Winchester followed his father up a gravel driveway and to the front door of a small trailer. Sam raised an eyebrow at the missing windows but didn't comment. John knocked on the door and the two waited for someone to answer.

Finally, the door opened to reveal a tall woman with startling red hair. She wore a pair of jeans and a black shirt. "Can I help you gentlemen?" she questioned with a polite smile.

"I'm Victor Ford, this is my partner," John motioned to Sam, "Tyler Jacobson. We're with the FBI. We were wondering if you could answer a few questions for us about your husband's recent disappearance."

Her eyes watered up but she nodded, "Yes, yes of course. Please come in. I'm Maggie Reynolds." She led them into the trailer, shutting the door once they were all inside. Maggie brought them to the small couch in the cluttered living room. "So, uh, what questions do you have?"

John cleared his throat, "What time did you notice your husband missing?"

Maggie sighed, "He didn't show up for work Tuesday morning, I was visiting my mother so I wasn't here."

"Did Mr. Reynolds miss work often?" Sam asked before his father could open his mouth for the next question.

Maggie shook her head, "No, no. Ed loved working at the toy shop. He was always smiling when he came home." She smiled fondly at the memory.

"Is there anyone who didn't like Ed, maybe had a grudge against him?" John said, a pen and a piece of paper in his hands in case a name was given.

"Everyone loves Ed, we're always getting invited over for dinner every other night."

The woman obviously thought the world of her husband. Sam and John shared a quick look and knew they were thinking the same thing: there would get nothing useful out of her.

Maggie told them a couple stories about her husband and afterwards John asked a few basic, non-important questions before he and Sam left. When they were back in John's truck and pulling out of the gravel driveway, John called his oldest son.

"Yeah?" Dean answered.

"The first guy, Reynolds, was apparently a good guy. Paid his taxes, played Santa at Christmas parties, and I bet he baked cookies for the local charity too." John reported with a heavy sigh. In his peripheral vision he noticed Sam pulling his black tie off, "Leave that on, Sammy-"

"It's Sam." Sam interrupted, fixing his tie with a quiet huff.

"-we've still got a few more people to interview." John returned his attention to Dean, "Did you get what I asked you to?"

"Yes sir. I re-stocked the first aid kit, bought more ammo, and had a very interesting conversation with the local sheriff. We were both at the ammo store when we ran into each other. I flashed my badge and he told me the FBI wasn't going to help any, that he should have called Animal Control or the Wildlife Department in instead."

"What? Why?"

Dean explained, "Apparently a couple kids were attacked by wolves yesterday afternoon. They kept it out of the press, though. The sheriff thinks the disapperances were caused by the wolves and our missing people are probably strewn all over the forest."

"We're not dealing with a werewolf, then, since they don't have fur." John groaned, "Damn it. Alright, we'll meet you back at the motel when we're finished. Start researching any other possibilities."

"Yes sir."

The two Winchesters hung up without saying any goodbyes. John glanced over at his youngest son to find Sam had fixed his tie. He looked like a lawyer, making John inwardly wince. _No, don't even go there,_ he thought to himself. There was no point in him going down _that_ particular road of thought when he knew it'd only make him feel horrible.

"What'd Dean say?" Sam broke the silence with a quiet cough added onto his words.

Not taking his eyes off the road John replied, "We're definitely not dealing with a werewolf." He relayed what Dean had said to Sam.

The younger hunter cocked his head to the side just barely. It was a habit he had had his whole life. Dean even titled it 'Sammy's dog-like question face'. The older brother had sworn up and down the action made Sam look like a dog. John had to hold back a smile at the memories the simple action brought up. "Maybe wolves really did attack Colesing, then. There might not even be a case here."

"I'd rather be sure, Sam."

Sam bit his tongue against a retort and instead asked, "What do you think it is then?"

"No clue. Dean's working on a theory right now, though."

Sam snorted, "Dean? Researching?"

"He's a fine researcher when he wants to be, Sam."

"Yeah, well, he'd rather be shooting something."

John couldn't deny that. Dean adn Sam could be complete opposites at times. While Dean had been eager to shoot anything that even looked at him wrong, Sam preferred researching for hours until he came up with the most reasonable theory. It killed John sometimes when he would spend days looking up something for a hunt and it would only take Sam an hour at the most to uncover an answer.

They fell back into a silence. John was starting to foget all about the Stanford incident. Of course, he wouldn't fully relax for a couple more weeks until the scholarship expired. He'd felt guilty as hell denying Sam something he obviously wanted, but Sam had to learn to protect himself. The eighteen year old had been coddled for a long time when it came to hunting and training, instead focusing on school work and grades.

Sam and John talked to the remaining families but did not find anything interesting about the missing persons.

"The only thing I see in common is they're all dudes." Dean stated as he lazily threw a wadded up piece of paper at the back of his brother's head.

"Stop, Dean." Sam said, continuing to tap away on his laptop. The Winchesters had pulled their money together to buy the device to make researching easier. Sam had gone several days without eating lunch at school, but he thought it was definitely worth it.

"Make me, bitch."

"Dean." John sent his oldest a warning look, though inside he was glad the brothers' banter was starting to return. He knew he and Dean had to be on the same track: Sam wasn't leaving them.

"So what the hell kills guys like this?"

"My best guess is a skinwalker." Sam suggested, shutting the computer down and closing it. He sat in his seat so he could face his brother, who was lying on one of the beds and facing the ceiling. John was on his own bed, cleaning some of the weapons. "It'd explain the fur. Unless we're missing a connection?"

John shook his head, "As far as I can tell none of the men have ever met each other. Hell, they've probably never even passed each other on the street."

"What about where they went missing?" Dean questioned, interlocking his hands behind his head.

"The third victim went missing near the woods. He was with his cousin or something and he just disappeared." Sam told his brother as he stood up and walked over to the small fridge. He pulled out a small jug of milk and poured himself a glass before returning it to the fridge.

They continued to discuss the hunt, without any fighting which was a shock to all parties involved, but came up with nothing useful. Eventually Dean broke off to take a shower, leaving his father and brother to do their own thing.

John pulled out his journal and began writing at the table. The youngest Winchester glanced at the small clock hanging near the door and decided to go to bed. He undid his jeans and tugged them off before climbing into the bed furthest from the door, making sure to leave enough space for his brother. Despite being eighteen and twenty-two, the two brothers were still sharing the same bed. John didn't want to spend money on a second room and the places they stayed at usually didn't offer roll aways. Sam was seriously considering buying a cot. Sharing a bed with his brother had been slightly awkward since Sam was thirteen and he was sure Dean felt the same way.

He drifted off to the sound of his father scribbling away and the shower running.

When Dean finished his shower he dressed himself in a shirt and a pair of boxers before leaving the bathroom. Dean felt himself relax when he saw his brother sleeping and his father writing. _Thank God they didn't fight,_ he thought with relief. Since Sam's almost-disappearance-to-Stanford the oldest and youngest Winchesters had had fewer fights. Now they were mostly disagreements about whatever monster they were hunting. Then again, that might have had something to do with the fact John and Sam only talked about hunting and nothing else.

Dean remembered a time when Sam would talk about everything and anything to whoever would listen. But now it was like his only topic of conversation was hunting. In a way Dean was glad, there definitely would not be as many fights between everyone. In another way it was like Sam wasn't Sam anymore.

He sighed before climbing into bed beside his brother. The lamp in the room was left on for John until the father grew tired himself. He double-checked the salt lines and several other protections before turning off the light and going to bed.

**:) More to come next Wednesday...unfortunately I"m _still_ stuck on writing chapter 7 but hopefully motivation and inspiration will slap me in the face or something.**

**Remember: Reviews rock socks.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Please see first chapter for warnings/disclaimers.**

Sam awoke to something messing with his foot. Grumbling, he pulled his legs up a few inches. When he felt it again he kicked out with one of his legs, connecting with something solid.

"Son of a bitch!"

He opened his eyes and looked at the end of the bed where Dean was now clutching his lower stomach. "Jerk." Sam muttered, rolling over onto his stomach and closing his eyes.

"Come on Sam, Dad said to get up."

With a groan Sam pulled himself up against the headboard, re-opening his hazel eyes.

"He went to get breakfast and he'll be back in a few minutes." Dean stated, "I'm real glad you don't sleep with a gun under your pillow or I'd probably have a freakin' hole in me." The older hunter went into the bathroom while Sam left the bed. Sam went to his duffel bag and pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He quickly dressed and sat at the small table in the motel room.

Dean exited the bathroom and joined his brother at the table, tapping his fingers on the table.

A loud thundering sound made both brothers jump slightly. Dean went to the window and looked out the blinds. "Shit," he muttered, turning around to face his brother. "Looks like a thunder storm's blowing in."

Sam shrugged, "So what? Scared to get a little wet, Dean?"

"I'm not the one who has to worry about their hair, Samantha."

An end was put to their bantering when loud footsteps were heard outside the motel door. Dean grabbed a small gun from the table where the weapons bag was and quickly aimed it at the door.

"Put it down, son." John's voiced called two seconds before he opened the door. Dean lowered his gun but didn't put it down on the table until John crossed the salt line. "Here, eat up." John put a McDonald's bag on the table. "Don't take too long, I want to get a lot done before the storm hits."

"What's on the agenda for today?" Dean asked as he pulled out a massive biscuit. Sam reached into the bag and pulled out his own biscuit. He peeled off the top half of the biscuit to reveal eggs and a round sausage.

"I wanna get a look at the woods." John replied, packing up the weapons bag while his sons ate. "Then we're going to do some training. It's been a while since you boys have done anything in the rain so we might as well put the weather to use."

Sam groaned, unable to help himself. Training with his father was borderline miserable, but training in the rain was way past the line. It was bad enough he had to meet his father's requirements but add in rain and mud and Sam knew it was going to be Hell.

"Suck it up, Sammy." John said shortly, "Some training'll do you some good. On the last hunt you missed the shot."

"Only because I tripped over a pipe!" Sam attempted to defend himself.

"That's your problem, you weren't paying enough attention-"

"I sincerely fucking apologize for focusing on getting that damn thing away from Dean instead of watching where my feet were, sir."

Dean put his biscuit down and took a breath, "Come on, you guys were doing so good."

"Watch your damn tone, Samuel Jonathan Winchester." John ordered, slamming his hands down palm first on the table. "You will _not_ disrespect me that way, you understand?"

Without a word Sam stood up, his breakfast completely forgotten at the table. He headed for the door.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Out. I'm eighteen, you're not the boss of me Dad." Sam told him angrily, pulling the motel door open and slamming it behind him. He stomped across the parking lot and started down the sidewalk, heading towards town. There was another booming sound of thunder and a few moments later it began to rain. "Just great." the eighteen year old muttered to himself. The rain fell onto his skin and slowly began soaking his clothes since Sam had not grabbed his jacket before leaving.

Meanwhile in the motel room, John debated on going after his youngest. Just because Sam was eighteen did not mean he could disrespect his father like he had.

"Dad...you don't think Sammy'll...you know, leave?" Dean asked as he stared at the door.

Shaking his head in a negative John told Dean, "No, he won't. He left all of his things here. Plus he has no cash on him."

Dean decided not to mention the fact Sam was pretty good at playing pool and could easily make money that way. No, he thought he would know if Sam was leaving for good. Sam wouldn't leave without saying goodbye, anyway...right?

"You shouldn't be so hard on him about that hunt, Dad. Wasn't his fault."

John scrubbed his face with his hand and looked at his oldest, "His missed the shot, Dean. You could have died if I hadn't taken the thing out when I did. We can't afford mistakes like that in this line of business. What if I'm not there the next time he misses? How is he going to watch our backs?"

The rain hitting against the window cut Dean off before he could say anything. He automatically glanced at Sam's bed where the kid's jacket was. "Moron," Dean sighed. "If he gets sick I am so not taking care of him."

They both knew it was a lie.

*Supernatural*

Eventually Sam stepped into a bookstore and out of the pouring rain. He was slightly shivering but ignored it the best he could. How had things gone so wrong so fast? Why did every conversation have to twist into an argument? Things had been going just fine the past month. Then he'd made one noise of complaint and everything went south.

"Do you need something specific?" a short man asked from behind the check-out counter. Sam shook his head and went to the back of the store. He began looking at nothing in particular. None of the books really stood out, most of them had yellow pages or the spines were harshly dented. Sam recognized half the books and had read a few of them before.

The eighteen year old roamed around the store until he'd gone through every aisle two times, then he left. It was still raining, but it wasn't as hard as it had been. His soaked jeans were very uncomfortable and Sam figured his dad would be angry if he kept wasting time. So, a bit reluctantly, Sam headed for the motel room his small family was staying at.

John's truck was missing and for that Sam felt a guilty sense of relief. He thought it was sad when he was even an ounce happy that his father was gone.

He walked up to the motel door and knocked four times consistently and then once more. Sam waited a few seconds and knocked twice. The door opened for him and he walked in, instantly going for his duffel.

"You forgot your phone." Dean said from behind the door. He shut it with his foot and tucked a gun in the waistband of his jeans.

Sam's eyes slid to the nightstand where his silver phone sat, untouched since the previous night. "Sorry."

"Dad went to check out the park and the alley where a couple of the victims died." Dean stated as Sam retrieved dry clothes from his bag. "He said we'll all go to the woods tonight and we'll do our training after we have a look around."

The younger hunter swallowed guiltily, "Sorry."

Dean shook off the apology with a shrug, "No big deal, Sammy. I'll still kick your ass in sparring."

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

A small smile found it's way onto Sam's face and he took his clothes to the bathroom so he could change. At least Dean wasn't mad at him.

**Hope you enjoyed the update. I hit a wall with this story in chapter 8, but it's coming along...slowly...ever so slowly. Lol.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**I wanna thank everyone for all the alerts/reviews/favorites I've received from this story...it's mind-blowing! ;)**

**So as many of you know, FF has been being very difficult when it comes to posting things recently. But, thanks to one very amazing person I am now back to posting. This chapter? It's dedicated to **Kazamigorical **who told me how to fix the 'Error 2' page I've been seeing for over a week now.**

**For those of you that are having the same problems send me a message.  
**

**See chapter one for disclaimer/warnings.**

John waited a bit impatiently at the edge of the woods where one of the missing persons had last been seen. He was sitting inside his truck, watching the rain hit the windshield. The father had already called Dean and told the man to bring his brother and to meet him just outside of town off an old road that led to an abandoned camp ground.

The most recent man to have disappeared and his cousin had decided to go camping here. They were into the whole 'rebellion' thing, breaking into places when they knew it was off limits. This explained why the tall gate had it's lock on the ground, unsmoothly cut away with what looked like a large pair of garden cutters. Despite the authorities already checking the place out when the man went missing, no one had bothered to replace the lock. The gate only covered the dirt road but nothing else. John couldn't figure out why someone would break the lock when they could have just gone through the woods not ten feet away.

Finally John heard the sound of the Impala's engine coming down the road. When the car was parked several feet behind his truck, John exited his vehicle and met up with his sons. The rain was dying down significantly, but John knew a lot of the evidence had probably been washed away.

"Sam, you go down the road for about a mile; see if you can find anything." John ordered, "Dean, up the road one mile. I'll go into the forest. Be back here in half an hour."

The three Winchesters split up without another word.

Dean made his way up the road like his father had commanded. He weaved in and out of the woods, searching for anything out of the ordinary. The wet grass made quiet squeaking sounds underneath his boots, making Dean want to just walk in his socks. Dean had walked no more than half a mile when he heard a growl coming from the woods. Pulling out his gun Dean took one glance at the moon and found it full. He turned his gaze back to the woods, "Alright Cujo, come on."

*supernatural*

The youngest Winchester kicked at a small rock, sending it flying in front of him. His Dad hadn't even mentioned what happened earlier and Sam wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. John Winchester was known for holding everything inside until he blew up later-usually at Sam, but to be fair Sam did the same thing to his father. Sam pulled his cell phone out and checked the time.

Knowing he would be in trouble if he wasn't back in time Sam turned around and headed back towards the two cars. He almost snorted. He was eighteen years old and was worried about being in trouble. _You're not five, Winchester,_ he reminded himself. _But it sure does feel like it._

When he was younger Sam had always been in either his father or his brother's sights. It was just a rule: don't go anywhere alone. Being a little kid he didn't question it. But when he started hitting fourth grade he noticed none of his friends at school were accompanied everywhere they went. He'd informed his dad about the arrangement and was told to just do as he was told. That answer had been a common one until Sam hit the teen years and decided to push back.

Sam arrived at the cars with several minutes to spare. He glanced in the direction Dean had gone and wished the road hadn't decided to have that small hill; his view of Dean was completely gone.

Squeaking and crunching from the woods had Sam drawing his weapon from the waistband of his jeans and aiming ahead of him. When it was just his father the youngest Winchester put his gun away, crossing his arms and leaning against the Impala. Neither of them said anything, waiting for Dean to once again play mediator between them.

"He's late." John said with a look at his watch.

"Maybe he found something." Sam suggested with an eye roll. God forbid Dean going over a mile or something and not making it back in time, even though he was only a couple minutes late.

"Or maybe something found him. Dean knows better than to be late."

Sam swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. He honestly hadn't thought of that. With that depressing thought in mind, Sam and John hurried towards the way Dean had been sent.

About ten minutes passed before they came across anything worth looking into. Dean's bootprints in the mud had suggested he had walked towards the woods. A few feet away John picked up his oldest son's gun. The safety was off but it was fully loaded.

"Damn it, Dean!" John cursed loudly, pulling out his own gun and stuffing Dean's into his jacket after putting the safety on. "Come on, Sam."

The two Winchesters made their way into the woods, searching for something that shouldn't be there, something that would lead them to Dean.

Sam followed his dad, scanning the wet trees and the ground for some clue. Splitting up was always a bad idea, he should have argued with his dad about it-_Focus!_ He took a silent but deep breath and pushed away the 'shoulda's. He could worry about those later. Right now we had a missing brother, probably taken by only God knows what.

Suddenly, Sam got the feeling he was being watched. Rolling his shoulders and turning around, the youngest Winchester came to a stop.

"Sammy! Get a move on." John ordered once he had noticed his son stop. He didn't have time to deal with the kid, Dean was missing and was most likely hurt-

"Yeah, coming." Sam shook his head as if to clear it out. He could have sworn he saw something, but it was getting dark out and was probably just a bird or a deer. Sam turned around quickly only to be tackled from the side.

He was sent to the ground, landing hard on his right arm. His gun slid from his grip. Sam was about to give a shout to his father when he got a look at his attacker.

A large-_large? The thing is freakin' huge!-_white wolf was growling at him, it's head lowering to the ground and the snarls coming from it increasing in volume. Sam kicked out at it but missed.

"Dad!" Sam finally managed to holler.

John heard a light thud behind him and rolled his eyes, leave it to his youngest to trip while on the job. He considered going to help the kid up but before he could Sam yelled for him. It wasn't Sam's 'that's not fair' tone the eighteen had learned around age thirteen, it wasn't the 'that's stupid' tone, either. No, it was the 'Dad get your ass over here please before this thing kills me' tone that John hadn't heard in a long time.

He spun around and immediately took a shot at the white canine-like thing snarling at his youngest son. The bullet hit the dog in the shoulder, causing it to yelp loudly in pain. It turned its attention to John and John thought, _Maybe this wasn't our kind of job, after all._

If he was honest he would have said the wolf was kind of beautiful. Despite the mud covering it's legs, the wolf's white fur was clean. Gray eyes looked back at him, reminding John of a storm cloud. But what wasn't beautiful was what the wolf did next.

The wolf quickly jumped over Sam and grabbed one of his arms and began pulling him away from John.

The father shot a couple more times but stopped shooting when he almost hit Sam. The kid let out a pained sound asthe wolf dragged him off, picking up speed. John ran after them but it felt more like he was walking. No, there was no way this was some ordinary wolf, not with that kind of speed while dragging someone as tall as Sam Winchester.

In his rush, John didn't see the tree root at his feet. He fell to the ground, hitting his head on another root of the same tree. He thought for just a moment how ironic it was that he had tripped on a hunt when he'd given his son so much grief over the same thing. The last thing he heard was Sam's pain induced hollering.

**Reviews are very appreciated and welcomed.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Know I updated yesterday but that was a delayed one! Enjoy chapter 5.**

Dean awoke to a throb in his leg. He cracked his eyes open and they darted to his left shin. Blood was seeping through his jeans and small holes could be seen as if he'd been bitten by something.

When Dean looked up he was not happy with what he saw. His brother was beside him, blood covering his arm and a small bruise on his forehead. The eighteen year old's clothes were ripped, caked in mud and blood which Dean assumed was from Sam's arm, and the clothes were wet on top of everything else. His eyes were closed and he looked like he was sleeping. Dean watched Sam's breathing, making sure the breaths sounded normal.

Next Dean took a look at his surroundings. They were inside a dry, large cave. A large camping lantern lit up the room, showing him a dirt floor and rock walls. Towards the entrance of the cave Dean saw two people. One was looking out into the darkness, a man, and the other, a woman, was watching him with a guarded expression.

He automatically reached for the back of his waistband but remembered he had dropped his gun when something lunged at him earlier near the forest. Dean was about to use a few selected words out loud but Sam's groan stopped him.

"Hey, Sammy," Dean whispered softly as Sam's eyes fluttered open.

"D-Dean?" the eighteen year old stumbled over the word as a wave of pain assaulted his arm, "God, my friggin' arm."

Dean sighed and shifted so he was next to his brother's arm. He lifted it gently, "Yeah, bet that feels like a bitch."

"Understatement of the year, dude."

"I apologize for that." the woman who had been watching Dean stated, causing Sam to jump and Dean to glare at her. She had long brown hair and big gray eyes. Her skin was lightly tanned and she was around 5'7. The woman took a few steps towards them, "My name's Grace-"

"I honestly don't give a shit what your name is, lady." Dean cut her off angrily, "I wanna know where the hell we are." He wasn't being entirely truthful, Dean had a good idea that they were still in Colesing, Georgia. But it would be much better for him and his brother if he just played stupid and collected as much information as he could, just like his father had taught him. He released Sam's arm

Grace sighed quietly, "We're still in Colesing. This is Nathaniel." She motioned towards the man at the entrance. He looked oddly familiar with his light red hair and brown eyes.

"Nathaniel Jennings?" Sam questioned, sitting back against the cave wall. The name clicked in Dean's head, this had been one of the missing persons.

Nathaniel gave a quick nod before returning his attention to the woods outside the cave.

"Do you need anything?" Grace questioned the two Winchesters, sounding like she actually cared. "Water?"

"How about you let us out of here?" Dean suggested with a hard edge in his voice. "Since you, I dunno, _kidnapped_ us."

Grace sighed and moved so she was standing in front of them. The brown haired woman got down on one knee and looked at Dean in the eyes, "I'm not going to lie to you, you two aren't leaving this place until morning. That is, if you even want to." Dean was going to ask her what she was talking about when Grace got to her feet and swung her head towards the cave entrance. "It's about time," she muttered.

A few moments later Sam and Dean saw two men carrying another man. "Dad!" Sam half-shouted in shock, he made a move to get up but let out a pained yelp when he applied pressure to his arm.

"Put him over here." Grace nodded her head to Sam and Dean. John was brought over to his sons and laid down somewhat gently. The two men left the trio of Winchesters and returned to where Nathaniel was standing.

Moving himself to his father, careful of his own leg, Dean tapped his dad on the face, "Dad? Come on, Dad." He did a quick look over of the oldest hunter and found John was bleeding openly from his shoulder. Dean managed to tug John's jacket off of his shoulder long enough to inspect the wound quickly. It looked like a huge chunk was missing from his father's shoulder, blood still pouring from whatever had happened to him. "You got some dry clothes?" he sent the question to Grace.

She nodded but didn't move from her position a few feet away from the family.

"Listen, lady, if I don't get this bleeding stopped he could bleed out-"

"He'll be fine in the morning." Grace stopped him, crossing her arms over her chest. "All of you will be fine."

_Great, Dad's going to bleed to death in a damn cave while some psychos watch._ Dean thought to himself. He pulled off his own jacket and tossed it to the side before pulling off his overshirt. His clothes were still damp but at least they would help with the bleeding. The oldest son tied the shirt around his father's shoulder tightly, eliciting a response from his father in the form of John shifting away.

"Dad?" Dean tapped his face once again and was awarded with his father swiping at his arm.

John opened his eyes and blinked. "Wha' happened?" he muttered, letting Dean help him sit up against the cave wall. His voice sounded raspy and weak.

"Can we get some water?" Sam asked Grace, unintentionally pulling out the puppy dog eyes he was so famous for. Grace nodded and went to a back corner of the cave where a load of supplies sat. She retrieved three bottles of water and handed each of the Winchesters a bottle.

John hissed when he used his injured arm to take the bottle.

"Take it easy, Dad." Dean told the older man.

"What time is it?" Grace addressed one of the men who had carried John into the cave.

"Eleven-thirty-two," he replied with a quick glance at his watch.

Nathaniel added, "Give it a minute or two, then."

Dean raised an eyebrow but decided to focus on his father and brother instead of whatever Nathaniel was talking about. "How's the shoulder?"

"Stinging like nobody's business." John grunted out after taking a swig of water. "What about you boys? Looks like you two didn't come out unscathed."

To be honest, Dean was almost surprised his dad had noticed their injuries. The guy hadn't been awake for five minutes and he had already checked his sons for any possible wounds. "I'm fine."

"Liar." Sam snorted, "Something got his leg, Dad." He gestured to his arm but before he could say something Dean began clutching his head.

"Son of a _bitch_!" he half-shouted, screwing his eyes shut. Dean vaguely heard his father's voice but he couldn't make any of it out over the sudden roaring in his head. It felt like someone was taking a bulldozer to the inside of his skull. The roaring grew louder and louder until John's voice faded completely.

Without warning a spike of pain shot through his arms and his spine. He could have sworn someone had taken a lighter and lit his skin on fire as more pain flooded through his whole body.

Distantly, over his own screams, he heard loud snaps and cracks.

*Supernatural*

Sam was more than freaking out. They'd been having a normal conversation-well, normal for his family-when Dean started holding his head, cursing up a storm. His dad had asked Dean what was wrong but his only response was a loud scream of pain. Sam had never heard his brother make such a noise, not even when a Wendigo almost ripped him in half.

"Dean?" Sam shouted, moving towards his brother. Someone wrapped their arms around his chest and dragged him back away from Dean who was writhering in agony on the floor. At first he thought it was his dad and Sam was ready to let the man have it for keeping him away from Dean. But when he saw his dad, also being dragged away, in his peripheral vision Sam looked over his shoulder to see Nathaniel. "Let me go!" he demanded, ignoring the sudden jab of pain in his arm.

"There's nothing you can do." Nathaniel told him sympathetically. He pulled Sam to the cave entrance and held him there, sitting on the ground with his arms still wrapped around the eighteen year old.

"Yes there is!" Sam yelled, his voice almost coming out in a sob. His brother was in pain, the least Sam could do was try and figure out what the hell was going on with him.

"No, there isn't." The man responded, finality coating his voice.

Sam watched, still struggling against Nathaniel's grip, as Dean bucked on the cave floor. Grace was crouched down beside him, whispering something Sam couldn't hear.

"I suggest you stop trying to break free or we'll knock you out." Nathaniel warned, "And I will do it. In fact, I might do it just so you don't have to watch anymore." The last statement was followed by a long sigh.

The eighteen year old's struggling died down against his will as exhaustion took over. He kept his eyes open, though, no matter how hard the idea of sleep tried to take over his head. Sam was not going to sleep while his brother was in pain. No way.

Finally after what felt like hours, Dean's body went limp.

_**Finally**_**, the supernatural part is coming around! Well, the last chapter had a bit of it but... Anyway, reviews welcomed.**


	6. Chapter 6

**SORRY it's late, but I've been real distracted recently. Here's chapter six:** dedicated to all of you who've reviewed, favorited, and alerted, you guys and gals rock!

John wanted to scream with relief when his oldest finally went limp; he wasn't sure how much longer he could have listened to his son's screams. He looked over at Sam who was still sobbing quietly, picking up his struggles against the man who restrained him.

He was just about to start his own attempt at freedom when Sam began his own set of screams.

What kind of father was he? John couldn't even comfort his own sons-_Not your fault,_ he scolded himself. While someone was restraining Sam John also had his own personal human restrainer. The guy was pretty big and John knew him as Reynolds, the man who had gone 'missing'. He mentally snorted, missing wasn't necessarily the right word.

All John wanted was to take away both of his sons' pain, especially after what he'd just witnessed Dean go through. He guessed the same thing was in store for Sammy, especially since the guy that had been holding him-_Nathaniel Jennings_, his mind supplied for him-released the eighteen year old who immediately threw his arms up to his head.

"What the hell's happening to them?" John demanded, anger and fear obvious in his voice.

"Their bodies are re-adjusting," Reynolds told him gruffly, "They'll be fine...I hope."

"Ed!" the woman with the brown hair snapped at him. She gave John a forced smile, "They _will_ be fine. It's rare for our bodies not to accept the adjustments."

John shook his head in confusion, wincing when Sam choked out another scream, "What are you talking about?"

"I guess brains don't go with the good looks, huh? We thought you three were hunters, especially with the way all of you were armed to the teeth with weapons." She inclined her head to the back corner where she had taken the water bottles from. John noticed several knives, guns, and even a flask of holy water, all of these things John knew his sons carried on them at all times. "Half of that was on the older boy, Dean right?"

"I thought he was just a paranoid guy," Jennings commented as he pulled Sam, who was twitching quietly now, away from a large rock so he wouldn't hit his head. "But then we checked this one for weapons and found almost as much as the other guy had."

"So I told Tanner and Max to go ahead and de-arm you while you were still in the woods. You were unconscious and the last thing we needed was for you to stick them with a knife."

Max? That wasn't one of the missing persons. "Where's Jole Carney?" John questioned, watching Sam go just as limp as his brother.

"He didn't make it through the change." Reynolds replied sadly.

"Wha-argh!" John felt a stabbing pain rush through his head.

*Supernatural*

_Feels like I got hit by a train,_ Sam thought to himself. Every inch of his body ached. With much effort he opened his eyes and had to blink as they were assaulted by sunlight pouring into the cave.

Groaning, he rolled over and found himself looking at John. His father was shuffling through a pile of weapons, picking up all the guns and two knives.

"Dad?" Sam mumbled, getting to his feet as quickly as he could. Surprisingly, he stood with relative ease. "Dad? Where's Dean?"

John looked over his shoulder at his youngest and Sam took a small step closer. His dad looked...different. The brown eyes on his father's face were darker than usual, instead of a slightly warm color they were dark chocolatey color.

"I don't know." John answered, returning all of his attention to the weapons.

"Y-You don't know?" Sam questioned, worry and concern slicing through him. "What do you mean?"

John stood up and spun around, "I mean I don't fucking know, Sam. I don't know where he went or if they took him somewhere. I don't know if he's...if he's...dead. I. Don't. Know." Sam's eyes grew wide and he felt panicked. Would they have killed Dean? Sam didn't even know what these people wanted with them. But if they were going to kill them wouldn't they have already done so? Why would they wait this long?

"Here."

Sam blinked a couple times before realizing his father was standing in front of him, a gun and a knife held out for Sam to take. More out of habit than anything else, Sam accepted the gun and the knife. He stuck the knife in his boot, cringing when he realized he was still wearing the same clothes he had worn the last time he had been conscious. The first thing he was going to do the moment he was back at the motel was get out of his damp clothes that were irritating his skin. Sam stuck the gun in the back of his jeans.

"We'll jump them when they come back," John told his youngest son. Sam absently noted his father was in hunter mode, making a plan.

Sam nodded and walked to the cave's large entrance. He looked out, observing the area. A small dirt path led from the cave to a small field surrounded by trees. The wildlife was covered in water from the recent rain. Up above him the sun was out, only a few clouds in sight. If he hadn't known better he would have never guessed it had rained at all.

"Tell me when you see someone." John ordered. Sam turned to look at him. He was shuffling through all of the supplies in the corner.

"Yes sir." Sam said, then more quietly added, "I hope you're okay Dean."

*Supernatural*

About an hour passed before Sam alerted his father that Reynolds and Jennings were coming back. The two Winchesters hid as best they could in the cave, guns out and safety off.

"-ace thinks we've got enough to take on that Drake guy and his crew. As soon as these guys shift she wants to move out." Reynolds's deep voice said.

"If these guys are hunters they probably won't have to get trained up, then." Jennings told him with a sigh, "I'm gonna miss Colesing, though."

Reynolds snorted, "I hate it here, lived here my whole life and the place has only brought me misery. I can't wait until we get out of here."

Their conversation died off and the two Winchesters listened as footsteps could be heard approaching the cave. They waited for the men to enter the cave before John stepped out, Sam right behind him.

"Where's my son?" John demanded. Reynolds and Jennings stopped in surprise. Reynolds let out a loud, humorless chuckle. "Where is he?"

"That won't kill me." Reynolds told the oldest Winchester, taking a step forward. Before his foot even hit the ground John pulled the trigger, hitting the man in the stomach. "Ow!" he cried, hands resting on his stomach. "Bastard!"

"Tell me where. My. Son is."

Sam's eyes grew wide when he saw Reynolds use his fingers to _pull the bullet out of his stomach._ When the bullet fell to the ground Sam looked back up at the man's injured stomach-the man's _previously_ injured stomach. The hole in his shirt that had recently been spouting blood was now just covered in blood, no longer pulsing out the red liquid. Reynolds used his shirt to wipe off the blood and when he let the fabric fall back into place the bullet hole in his skin was gone.

"Are you going to shoot me again?" Reynolds asked, eyebrow raised.

Before either Winchester could even muster a response, Reynolds was no longer standing in front of them. In almost the blink of an eye the man that had been there was now a large wolf with sandy fur.

_Didn't see that one coming,_ Sam thought, wondering how many flies he would be able to catch now that his jaw was wide open.

John faltered for a brief second before shooting again, this time hitting the wolf in the head. That seemed to do much more damage because Reynolds jerked backwards and slid to the ground. While John shot a few more times at the sandy wolf Sam watched as Jennings shifted into a massive red canine, though somehow he didn't look as threatening as Reynolds had.

"Shoot, Sam!" John commanded when he saw Jennings turn into a wolf.

Sam hesitated. What had this guy done to him? He wasn't the one who attacked Sam, that had been a white wolf. Nathaniel Jennings had not shown any kind of violence towards the Winchester family as far as Sam could tell. But then again...Sam couldn't be sure if this guy-wolf, whatever he was, had hurt Dean who was still gone.

_"There are no shades of gray, Sam." John shouted as he drove the Impala to the latest motel. "If it isn't human, it dies. No exceptions. Same goes for witches, they're messing with demons so therefore they have to die before they hurt someone."_ John had lectured for at least an hour before they had finally reached the motel. A young girl had been dealing with witchcraft, though she never honestly believed any of it. Some kids at her school had invited her to a party and one of the kids had stolen a book from their father's bookstore of rare books. They ended up summoning a demon who killed everyone but the original caster, the young girl.

All she had wanted was to fit in with some kids but she had unintentionally binded the demon to her soul, making her a direct server of Hell. John had ordered Sam to kill her, telling her there was no hope for her. When Sam had refused John killed the girl himself.

All three Winchesters knew John wasn't proud of his actions, but only two of them understood it had to be done. John needed Sam to be able to follow orders without hesitation, it could save his life if he did. Sam had wanted to find an alternate solution, to save the girl and her soul but John had insisted they didn't have time. The demon would have eventually manipulated the girl to do anything it wanted, kill anyone it wanted.

*Supernatural*

John honestly could not believe his youngest son was hesitating to follow an order at a time like this. They could be ripped apart by a dog and Sam wasn't pulling the trigger. As John emptied his gun into Reynolds, the sandy wolf finally stopped moving. It'd taken all his ammo but finally Reynolds was out for the count.

Now he had a whole other issue, the second wolf.

**I'm currently writing chapter 9, should be starting 10 soon. I just wanna apologize again for this being so late. Hopefully it won't happen again.**


	7. Chapter 7

John wasted no time and instantly took the gun from Sam's hands and aimed it at the wolf who was looking hesitantly for another escape that didn't involve turning his back on the two Winchesters.

"Answer my questions or you end up like your friend over there." John demanded, using his head to point to Reynolds's body. "Where's my kid?"

After a short second of silence the wolf began to get taller, it's legs morphing into arms and human legs. It's snout shortened into a nose and the ears reverted back to human ones. "I honestly don't know." Jennings said. He was still dressed in the clothes he had worn when arriving at the cave, though Sam and John weren't completely sure how _that_ had happened. The guy had just been a freaking dog for cryin' out loud!

"Sorry, but I really don't believe that. You've got one more shot before I empty this thing into your brain."

John Winchester could be a very scary man.

True fear made itself known in Jennings's eyes as he replied, "I told you, I don't know. Grace and Max took him somewhere and we were to come back and make sure you two were still here."

The father seemed to believe him, but the questioning continued. "Care to tell me what the hell you are, exactly?"

"Couldn't tell ya'." He shrugged slightly, "Originally I thought we were werewolves but Grace said that wasn't right, werewolves didn't turn into actual wolves like we do." Jennings glanced at John's shoulder, "And by we I do mean you three, too."

"W-What?" Sam stuttered.

"Each of you received a bite from one of us." He explained softly, "I'm gonna take it you haven't noticed yet, but all of your injuries-"

"Are gone, yeah. I know." John cut him off harshly. Sam's eyes widened even further than they already were. He looked at his arm, the wound that had been there was completely gone. There were no markings on his skin, just dried blood. He'd been too busy worrying about Dean and dealing with the situation at hand to notice his lack of injuries. "How do you reverse it?"

Jennings scrunched his eyesbrows in confusion, "Pardon?"

"There's got to be some way to reverse it. Tell me how."

Shaking his head Jennings told him, "There is no going back from this, not since you are all so far into the process."  
"Why would you turn us?" Sam questioned as he tried to put everything together in his head. "Why when you knew there was no way to stop it?"

"Grace got into it with someone a little while back, so she decided to make her own pack. She came here and began turning us, one by one." Jennings informed the two Winchesters a bit sadly, "She told us to take anyone we found by themselves. At first she was just going to turn Dean, but when we discovered you were hunters...Grace didn't want to pass up the opprotunity."

Once again Sam cursed his family's lifestyle, it seemed to cause his family a lot of trouble. When the gun went off, Sam jumped slightly. The eighteen year old glanced away as his father emptied the gun into Jennings.

"You didn't have to kill him." Sam mumbled, half-wishing his father wouldn' hear him.

John shot his youngest son a glare, "Oh? Sam, he and the others have been kidnapping and turning people."

Part of him knew his father was right, what these people were doing was wrong. But that teenage rebellion side of him just wanted to argue. They still didn't know where Dean was but Sam just _knew_ he was alive. The two were stuck in a cave with no sense of direction as to where they should go to find the missing Winchester. Oh, right, and they had been bitten by some kind of werewolves and were in the process of changing into them without reversibility. Fantastic. Just another day in the Winchester Family.

"Just because you have a gun doesn't mean you can shoot anyhting that moves!" Sam retorted, deciding to look at his father instead of the two bloodied corpses on the cave ground.

"I shot him because he was a threat, Sammy."

"It's _Sam_!"

"You two about done?" Dean's voice pulled the two out of their argument, causing them to snap the heads to the entrance of the cave where the middle Winchester stood tiredly.

He looked exhausted, as if standing there was slowly sucking the life out of him. Sam noticed his eyes were a shade brighter than usual, but still green. Dean was slightly coated in sweat but Sam figured that was from the sun's heat.

"Dean?" Sam moved towards his brother and helped him sit down. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, Samantha." Dean snorted, he did a quick look over of Sam and then John who was pulling out another gun from his jacket, Dean recognized it as his spare. "Where'd you find my-"

"They dumped all the weapons over here." John cut him off, "What happened out there, Dean?" He turned to look at his oldest son.

Dean hesitated slightly before saying, "Can we talk about it later, Dad? You know how much we hate camping-"

"Son-"

"I think we can wait." Sam jumped in. His brother wasn't looking too good and Sam didn't want to push Dean too far. Their father could wait until they got back to the motel room at least.

John sighed heavily, "Fine." he snapped at Sam more than Dean, "Let's get the hell out of here then we'll talk." The oldest Winchester wasn't happy about being undermined by his son but he did agree with Sam. Priorities first, they needed to get out of the forest and back to the cars. After that they would speed to the motel, and then to the next town. They could figure things out from there.

Sam held out a hand to his brother and Dean took it with only an annoyed glare. The youngest Winchester was most likely going to hover for the next couple of hours. John handed Dean a few weapons and then took point, leading his sons out of the cave.

John was able to find a trail about a fifty feet away from the cave's entrance. He led his sons down the trail, throwing a glance over his shoulder every once in a while. Dean didn't look like he was hurt, but Winchesters were known for hiding any type of pain-whether it be physical or emotional. He did hear a bone pop once and John heard a soft, "Son of a bitch." but he decided not to acknowledge it. Sam on the other hand quickly asked his brother how he was.

"Fine, Sammy." Dean would reply before shooting him a cocky smirk. They all knew it was just for show-it usually was. Dean would never admit to pain, especially if his brother was around. He was always trying to be strong for his brother, always trying to act invincible. Not that it worked every time, though.

The Winchesters didn't keep track of how long they walked, but when they finally came to the edge of the woods and found their parked cars they were all more than relieved.

"Can you drive?" John addressed his oldest.

Dean rolled his eyes, "Dad, just because I'm a little sore do-"

"You said you were fine." Sam glared, but it fell on deaf ears.

"-esn't mean I can't drive my baby. Besides, Sammy would probably wreck her." He laughed when he saw Sam flip him off while their dad walked off to his truck. "Bitch."

"Jerk."

The two brothers climbed into the Impala, Dean wishing they had clean clothes or even towels; he was going to have to wash his car when all of this was over. Whatever 'this' was. As he started the engine, he couldn't help but worry about his decision in the woods with Grace. His dad was probably not going to be too happy, that was for sure.

For the entire ride to the motel both brothers were silent in the Impala. Sam would shoot nervous glances at his brother, as if he could already tell bad news was coming up. Dean tried his best to ignore the looks but they were hard to miss. The youngest Winchester began replaying the day's earlier events in his head. Were they really going to change into those 'werewolves'? All of their wounds were gone and Jennings had said that was a good sign, meaning their bodies were accepting the adjustments that had been needed. He soon realized Dean had no idea about the conversation-_more like interrogation_, Sam thought-with Jennings. Dean hadn't even questioned the two dead bodies on the cave floor. Either Dean wasn't concerned about the issue at hand or he had something else stewing in his head. Sam prayed things weren't going to get any worse.

John looked in his rearview mirror at his two sons. Sam was leaning against the passenger door, looking at his brother every few minutes. Dean was driving, eyes glued to the road. The father was curious as hell as to what had happened while Dean was gone with those two...whatever they were.

Which brought up another question: what was going to happen to his family? Jennings had said there was no way to reverse this. John knew something was up when he and his youngest had had no injuries, then he noticed Dean's lack of injuries also. Then there were his sons' eyes, and he was sure his were differen too. Sam's eyes were especially odd. While Dean's were brighter than their normal olive green, one of Sam's eyes were bluer and the second looked darker. He had no idea what was going on. Were they going to become the things he had spent eighteen years fighting?

Returning his brown eyes to the road, John shook his head. No. No way in hell. He would _not_ let his boys, and himself as well, become...things like Jennings, Grace, and those others that had been turned.

No way.

**Okay, so those stories I mentioned in chapter 2? The ones that actually inspiried me to write a were-fic? I've been thinking about it...and I don't want to spoil them for anyone. If you want to read them then send me a message and I'll tell you them but I'd rather not spoil them here in case someone didn't want to be spoiled.**


	8. Chapter 8

**See chapter 1 for disclaimers/warnings/etc.**

**This chapter was a bit hard to write, but I finally got it...after a week of failed attempts ;). Hope it does well.**

The Winchesters were in Tennessee, right over the border of Georgia. They'd driven for several hours but that didn't matter-they just wanted as far away from Colesing as they could get. John had already called a hunter friend of his, Cayla Aldean, to come and take care of the remaining wolves...people...whatever. He figured the woman was safe since Grace had only targeted men.

He pulled into a motel in Chattanooga and waited for the Impala to come to a stop next to him. Opening his truck door and climbing out, he motioned for Sam to roll down his window.

"I'm gonna go get us a room for the rest of the day and tonight," John informed them, noticing that Dean wouldn't meet his eyes. "Dean." The response was instantaneous, Dean looked at his father and John wasn't sure what emotion his son was holding back. But, they didn't have time for this now. He needed Dean to debrief him on what had happened at the cave. Then he'd place a few calls to Bobby and Jim, maybe even Caleb and Joshua. "You boys go ahead and grab the bags." he ordered.

*Supernatural*

The brothers carried their dad's bag, their own bags, as well as the weapons bag away from the vehicles and waited outside the lobby for John. When he came out he held a room key. "Come on," he said, leading his sons up a set of stairs on the outside of the building. They walked to room 119 and entered, using the key John had acquired.

After putting everything down in the far corner of the room, Dean looked around. A crappy television sat against the wall where the door was. Across from the TV were two beds, one a single and one a double. The walls had light brown and yellow stains at the bottom but were relatively clean besides that. Dean headed for the bathroom, trying to procrastinate as long as possible.

How was he going to tell his father and his brother? He had willingly turned into some kind of freak.

"But that was the only way she'd let us go." Dean whispered to himself almost silently. Running a hand through his short hair, the older brother exited the bathroom. His brother was sitting on the motel bed, tapping away at his laptop like his life depended on it. _Well, it just might_, Dean thought. His dad was flipping through his journal and only glanced up when he noticed his oldest son had entered the room.

"Alright Dean, what the hell happened?" John asked-no, demanded.

So Dean told them everything. He told them how Grace and some of her goons had dragged him into the middle of the woods. Then they'd informed him of Grace's plans, how she wanted to make her own 'pack' of 'werewolves'. After that they had given him two choices. One, he could be forced into turning and despite his attempts to stop it the shift would still happen. Once the process started it couldn't be stopped, no matter what. Second, he could cooperate with them, change into a 'werewolf' without intentionally struggling, and they would let all of the Winchesters live.

"But I thought she wanted all of us alive." Sam said uncertainly, glancing between his father and brother. They had both shut themselves up behind a wall, guarding their expressions and therefore their emotions.

Dean shrugged slightly, "All she had to do was go find more people to turn. We were replaceable."

"And she just let you go?"

"Her and her buddy, Max or whatever, thought the others had you guys under control." Dean snorted, "Since when have Winchesters ever been under control?"

Sam smiled for a moment before he realized something. The smile slid from his face and he looked down at the floor. The eighteen year old put his elbows on his knees and said, "So you turned?"

A thick, tense silence filled the room in a matter of milliseconds. John, who had stood sometime during Dean's story, crossed his arms and looked at his oldest son, "Dean?"

"Yeah." the older son nodded, avoiding eye contact. "Yeah, I turned."

"Damn it, Dean." John swore loudly. He used his arm to swipe everything off of the little table in the motel room onto the floor, including the journal and a stationery set provided by the motel.

"They were going to kill you." Dean swallowed. And that was what it all came down to. Since he was four years old Dean had been taught to look out for Sammy, and along the way he began looking out for his father and his extended family of hunters. Dean valued family so much he was willing to turn into something just to keep them safe.

"Dad-" Sam attempted to step in, jumping to his feet, but he was cut off by their father.

"How do you know they weren't going to kill us anyway, Dean? We don't know what the hell we're dealing with and you cooperate with them?"

"Like you wouldn't do the same thing!" Sam shouted, "Stop being such a hypocrite, Dad! We all know if we were in Dean's position we wouldn't have even hesitated, so quit giving him crap about it."

The oldest Winchester was breathing heavily, his face a red tinge color from the anger and fear he was feeling. He ran a hand over his face, ignoring the mud he still felt on his face. In his haste to get away from Colesing, he and his sons hadn't had time to shower. John had allowed them to change their clothes since they were completely destroyed but that was all. Hell, they'd only stopped on the road once to get gas into their vehicles which was their only chance for food.

"I need to make a few calls." John stated, leaving the room with his cell phone in hand. He let the door slam behind him as he dialed a familiar number. John waited until the ringing stopped and Bobby Singer's voice greeted him.

"Singer Salvage Yard."

"Bobby, it's John. I need some help."

A sigh from the other end had John roll his eyes, "I _know_ you need help, Winchester, you're callin' ain't ya? Alright, what do ya need, idjit?"

Swallowing the younger hunter replied, "The boys and I ran into some trouble and we need a place to stay-"

"You don't even have to ask-"

"Let me finish, Bobby, we need a place that's isolated. We can't have hunters or your customers dropping by all the time. I'm talkin' about middle of nowhere places." he explained quietly.

There was a pause from the other end before Bobby asked, "How much shit are you in?"

"We're drowning in it."

"That bad?"

"That bad, Bobby."

A few silent moments later then, "I'll call you back in a couple hours, and when I do I expect to find out what the hell you Winchesters got yourselves in to."

John ended the phone call and entered the motel room. Sam glared at his father when he walked in but quickly went back to what he was doing, which was sitting at the table with his laptop. Dean was nowhere in sight but John heard the shower running and Dean's duffel was unzipped.

"Have you found anything?" John questioned, sitting on the single bed.

The younger hunter didn't say anything.

"Sam."

Rolling his eyes and giving a quiet huff Sam said, "Dad, do you know how many werewolf theories, legeneds, and myths there are? Hundreds. Almost every country has some form of werewolf. And since we know what's happening to us isn't necessarily a werewolf that makes this a little harder."

Biting back his temper John replied, "Then tell me what you've got so far."

"There's the whole silver thing. In some stories it can kill, others it injures, and in some it's completely useless. It depends on what story we're talking about and I've got no idea which one it is!"

John was about to tell his son not to shout at him but then he looked at his youngest's face. The kid was scared, they all were. They had no idea what was going to happen, well, Dean said he'd already turned but John hadn't talked to his oldest about that. Dean had left out all the details. He knew he'd have to discuss it with his oldest but...how would he start that kind of conversation? Taking a deep breath John ordered, "Son, take a breather, okay? Go pick up some food."

For once, Sam didn't question the order. He stood up, grabbed his dad's keys, and left, slamming the door in frustration. John was reluctant to let Sam go alone but they all needed some space right now to think things over. If that guy, Jennings, was right and this wasn't reversible then their lives were going to get so much more complicated.

**Hope you liked it. I was going to use dialogue to explain everything that happened to Dean but then decided on just doing a summary of it instead. I found it hard to get the right words for Dean so I went with plan B: paragraph summary.**

**Another A/N: I promise there will be some actual werewolf-Dean coming up soon.**

**Also, Sam and I share the same annoyance when it comes to researching werewolf stuff. I spent half an hour shifting through tons of information before sighing dramatically and beginning this story, telling myself I'd figure it all out along the way.**


	9. Chapter 9

**SURPRISE! Bonus chapter! Since I got this awesome review asking for 'more soon' I decided, "Why the heck not?" I've got a few chps written ahead of this one so it should be okay. Enjoy!**

**I apologize for the 'f-bomb' I drop in here. As well as a few other words but they're on the show so you shouldn't be too affected ;). I really hope I did the talk John and Dean have up to expectations.**

Dean took a long shower to relax his muscles. It'd been a long time since his dad had shouted at him outside of training and hunting, which was the occasional "Dean, duck!" But to yell at him for what he considered was a screw-up? Hadn't happened since John walked out to the Impala and found Dean with a very lovely young lady in the backseat.

He drowned out the slamming doors which cued the entrance of John and the exit of most likely Sam. The two were so much alike it was almost suffocating. Both were stubborn to the core, could drive Dean crazy, and were so good at pushing each other's buttons it wasn't even funny. They both knew the right thing to say at the worst time to say it, and ninety percent of the time neither of them held back and blew full steam ahead. His dad was slightly better and watching what he said but not by much.

Eventually the warm water turned cold, forcing the middle Winchester to exit the shower and wrap a towel around himself. He turned off the water and began drying his body off. Dean avoided looking in the mirror, the image from when he had first entered the bathroom to take a shower burned in his mind.

All of his injuries were gone. He'd noticed this on Sam and John, too, but knew he didn't need to mention it. Another difference was his eye color. His usually olive green eyes were brighter. Grace had mentioned this in the field, it was his eyes' way of finding a middle between wolf and man. Dean could see things differently than he could when he was one hundred percent human. Bright colors were brighter and dull colors had a lighter look about them. Dean had also been told seeing in the dark would no longer be that much of an issue with his new eyes.

He'd noticed the changes in his brother's and father's eyes, also. But in his opinion John's eyes looked better this way. They didn't look as cold and hard as the eyes had been most of Dean's life. A resemblance could be seen, barely a memory in Dean's mind. Now his father's brown eyes looked kinder and reminded him strongly of before Dean's mother had died. Not that he'd mention any of this to Sam or John, Dean wasn't even completely sure what his dad's eyes looked like back then, he'd only been four years old at the time. But something definitely made the brown orbs gentler.

Dean ran the towel over his head before tossing it to the floor and getting dressed. He pulled on boxers, blue jeans, and a plain black t-shirt. Picking up his clothes from the bathroom floor, Dean reluctantly opened the bathroom door and turned off the light. He walked into the motel room and quietly stuffed his clothes in his duffel bag.

"He went to grab dinner." John said. Dean glanced up from his duffel to find John leaning against the motel wall close to the door. If Dean didn't know better, he'd say the man looked...nervous. "Dean, you know...this isn't easy for any of us. What I said earlier...and about what happened to you-"

Shaking his head, Dean stood up, "Don't worry about it, Dad. Water under the bridge." Unlike Sam, Dean didn't need his father to get the apology out all the way. As long as he attempted to apologize Dean was satisified enough. He himself knew how hard it was to spit out all that emotional crap and John was the same way. Besides, it was so much easier to meet him half way and get it over with. Of course, Dean was still a little hurt by his father's earlier words but John didn't need to know that.

John nodded gratefully before clearing his throat, "So what happened out there, Ace? If we're going to figure out what the hell's going on I need to know the details. If you don't want your brother to know then I can send him out for supplies, whatever you want."

When it came to Sammy, John sometimes gave Dean a choice. The two men had always wanted Sam kept far away from the supernatural stuff when he was growing up. After Sam found out about the supernatural, he was still kept away from it but learned how he could defend himself if the need ever arose. Usually after a nasty hunt, John would talk to Dean once Sam was in the shower or already fast asleep. These talks became less and less over the years to the point where Dean couldn't even recall his last 'heart-to-heart' with his father.

Making a decision, Dean said, "They said silver wouldn't affect us. Mistletoe, on the other hand, apparently hurts like hell. Decapitation and severe damage to the vital organs are sure ways to kill us."

"Do you remember what happened when you...ya' know?"

The younger man raised a confused eyebrow before comprehension dawned on him, "I was totally aware, Dad. It was just like how I am now but I can't really talk or anything. And then there's a tail and four legs instead of two but what's a guy to do?" He realized he was beginning to babble but, damn it, he couldn't help it. He had turned into a _freaking dog_, he was entitled to babbling if he wanted to. "Then there's all the smells-Dad, it's in-fuckin'-sane. It's like my nose is on steroids or somethin'. I mean, it's pickin' up a lot right now but then it was like all sensors were on full blast-"

Dean cut himself off and took a deep, calming breath.

"Called Bobby," John eventually said, standing up straight and moving to sit on one of the motel beds. "He's gonna find us a place we can go to until we get things figured out. It'll be off the grid. We'll need to stock up on supplies, I guess."

Dean nodded in response. This was the father he was used to, the one who let him in on the plans-though still very need to know. "Have you told Sammy yet?" Though he had expected that was what had caused Sam to leave the motel room, Dean still needed to know. Their fights could revolve around someone stealing a sock and one of the two would end up slamming doors and leaving.

"No."

He waited a beat before asking, "Do you plan on it?"

John sent a glare at him, "Yes, Dean, I do. I was going to wait until after we eat so we can at least try to have a quiet dinner, though."

"Good idea."

Eventually Sam returned with a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, three bottles of water, and a pack of plastic knives.

"Peanut butter sandwiches?" Dean snorted in amusement, shaking his head. "What are we, eight?"

"Shut up. Next time you can get your own dinner." Sam retorted with an eye roll. "It was the cheapest thing I could find...unless you prefer to live off of candy bars-actually, don't answer that."

John grabbed the loaf of bread and opened it up, listening as his sons continued their banter. He chuckled as he spread the peanut butter over a piece of bread. Leave it to Sam to choose peanut butter sandwiches over everything in a grocery store. Then again, if he'd sent Dean Sam would have gone to the store anyway. John's oldest had the tendency to get some of the most unhealthy foods.

As they sat around the motel room, eating peanut butter sandwiches and drinking water, John glanced up at the ceiling. He sent a silent prayer up to the man upstairs, asking him to take it easy on his family for a while.

Ever since Mary's death, John had stopped going to church. He wasn't even sure if he believed in God or if the being just didn't care. Mary had always loved going to church, yet she died a violent death.

Dinner went by a bit too quickly for John, he wasn't looking forward to telling his youngest they were leaving. Sam had hated moving since the first grade when he realized normal kids didn't practically live out of the family car. Sure, Sam was the only one in his classes that could say he'd been to forty-eight out of fifty states but that didn't mean much to him as he got older. He'd never had a house or a mom, like Dean and John. Sam had never experienced 'normal', and while Dean tried to give his brother a sense of normalcy, Sam still craved it.

As Sam washed his hands in the bathroom sink, Dean cleared his throat and made a head motion towards the bathroom.

John sent him a pointed look before saying loud enough for his youngest to hear, "Bobby says he might have a place we can stay at."

The water shut off and soon Sam was standing by his family, wiping his wet hands on his jeans. "So we're staying with Bobby?"

Shaking his head John answered, "No, he's gonna find a safe house or something-"

"Why can't we just stay at the Salvage Yard?"

"It isn't safe-"

"And living in some other place is?"

John felt his voice rise slightly, "It won't be in some random neighborhood, Sam, it'll be isolated so we don't have to worry about people."

That cut off the questioning from Sam's end. He unconsciously clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides, unknowingly reminding John and Dean both of a seven year old Sammy-especially since his shaggy brown hair kept falling into his eyes.

Suddenly, his fists went still and Sam sighed, "Fine. Whatever." He went to his duffel and grabbed clean clothes before shutting himself in the bathroom and taking a shower.

Dean and John shared a look before John shrugged, "At least we aren't fighting."

"Yeah," his oldest snorted, "But now he's going to be in a pissy mood."

*Supernatural*

Later that night, John finally heard back from Bobby Singer.

"I know of a place not too far from where you are." Bobby told him, "Hasn't been used for years as far as I know."

John raised an eyebrow, "And how exactly do you know?"

"An old hunting buddy built it about ten years ago. He died a few years after that and told me to use it if I ever got the chance. There's no electricity, but somehow he managed to get the plumbing working and there are tons of protections on it. It's not easy to get to, either. You can drive about two-thirds of the way but then you've got to go on foot from there."

To John, it sounded isolated enough. There wouldn't be an traveling salesmen, any kids playing in the street, and no neighbors.

"All right, where is it?" John prompted. Bobby began giving detailed directions to his friend. John grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down the information. After he had the location down, he reluctantly began telling Bobby all that had happened to the Winchester family on the hunt.

Bobby remained mostly silent until the very end when he said, "You idjits...you really are in deep shit, John." The older hunter sighed and John could picture him taking of his trucker hat and running a hand through his graying hair. "I'll see what I can dig up."

"Thanks, Bobby." With that, John hung up and put the directions in his pocket.

**Okay, so a fluffy little bit but I've been craving a peanut butter sandwich over the past ten minutes. Leaving a review makes you awesome.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I apologize for delayed update-real life has been owning me all week, from all kinds of tests to final projects!**

"It's..." Dean paused to think of the right word, "Homey."

Sam snorted and rolled his eyes. He crossed his arms and looked at the place he would be calling 'home' until further notice.

From the outside, Sam could only tell it was a two story building. It was an old house in the Smoky Mountains of east Tennessee, set in some type of clearing surrounded by trees. Sam turned around to look at the path he, Dean, and John had come from. They'd spent twenty minutes walking away from a place where they had hidden their vehicles. Dean had complained about covering up the Impala with tree limbs and leaves and leaving his precious car where animals could easily scratch the paint, but had done it anyway.

While Sam was glad his family was finally settling down-though he knew it was just temporary but would be much better than staying in some motel room-he wasn't too excited about the isolation.

As they had been driving to the mountains, Sam had had more time to dwell on some information he had discovered. In some werewolf legends, their shifts were in tune with their emotions. If you experienced a high level of emotion, you would change-whether it be happy, sad, or angry. Sam and John had short fuses and knew it was going to be a whole lot worse over the next little while since they would be forced to stay in the same area together. This time, John had made a strict order that all three of the Winchesters would basically be under house arrest until they got everything sorted out. Sam prayed his dad would at least let him walk back to the vehicles every once in a while to clear his head.

_You're not five, Winchester._ Sam reminded himself crossly. He was a legal adult for crying out loud, if he wanted to walk to the cars and back he could. _Oh, really? Then what's stopping you from going to college?_

"I call first room choice!" Dean all but shouted, making a run for the house.

Sam smiled a genuine smile and shook his head in disbelief, re-adjusting his hold on his duffel. His brother was twenty-two years old and he could act all of ten sometimes. He glanced at John to see the older man was rolling his eyes and had a small grin on his face. The two made their way to the house.

The first thing Sam noticed when he stepped into the building was it was very filthy, not in a disgusting way but in an abandoned house way. Dust littered everything and Sam had a feeling they would be cleaning for a long time. The sunlight coming in from the doorway revealed a large sofa, a coffee table, and two end tables on either end of the couch. On every table a lantern sat. A fireplace was positioned in front of the table which was in front of the sofa. Plastic sheets covered all of the furniture.

John pulled something out of his back pocket and handed it to Sam. The youngest Winchester accepted the box of matches, tossed his duffel towards the bottom of the staircase, and set about lighting the lanterns in the room. He was going to light the fireplace but there was no wood.

"We'll have to get wood if we want this thing going, Dad." Sam said, watching as Dean came down the steps.

"My bag's in my room." Dean said smugly, crossing his arms over his chest in triumph.

John nodded, "Good. Go grab the sleeping bags then, until we get the rooms cleaned everyone sleeps in the living room."

"So why isn't this place, you know," Sam glanced at his father as Dean left the house, "Inhabited by animals or overrun with plants or something?"

The father took a quick look around, as if just now noticing his youngest was right. "Bobby said there were protections on it." He shrugged, "I'll give him a call about it if I can get reception up here." John paused, "Keep your guard up though, Sammy."

Sam thought about correcting his childhood nickname but instead gave a curt nod. He took a deep breathe and sat on the floor next to the fireplace. There was no way Sam was going to sit on a couch that may or may not be infested with living creatures. The teen pulled his legs up to his chest and rested his crossed arms on top of them while John left the room, probably to call Bobby.

It was amazing how one night could change his whole life. He had researched more and more on the internet every time they stopped to get food. When he wasn't eating or using a computer, he was pouring through books Sam had checked out from the many libraries they had passed. He felt a little bad about checking them out and knowing the poor librarians would never see them again but Sam felt he had good reason to do so.

There were so many myths and legends it made his head spin. Dean hadn't been up to talking about what had happened to him when he'd...changed. Yet another mind-blowing situation. Dean admitted he was some sort of werewolf but that he was a wolf, not a two legged creature. The Winchesters definitely weren't werewolves or shape-shifters, Sam was sure of that much. But there were so many various _types_ of shape-shifters among things Sam might have never even heard of. This was the first time he'd ever heard of someone changining into a wolf and back, though.

He glanced up from the dusty floor as Dean returned and dumped the sleeping bags behind the couch. Sam stood up, wondering how he'd been able to drift off so easily. Then again, pondering what kind of supernatural creature you were tended to do that to people.

"Where's Dad?" Dean asked as he stretched his arms towards the ceiling. Sam heard a small pop that reminded him too much of his brother's cries of pain in the cave not so long ago.

"He went to call Bobby." Sam replied, flinching as Dean's back popped for a second time. Clearing his throat Sam said, "We think there may be protections on this place that repell the animals. The place isn't trashed or anything, nothing's even torn."

"Good to know we won't be seeing Bambi anytime soon."

Sam smiled a little before turning his attention to his duffel. He really needed to get back to researching. "I'm gonna go r-"

"I swear to God if you say what I think you're going to say I'll cut your hair." Dean cut him off with annoyance. "Sammy, you've been reading nonstop since...well, you've been reading a lot. Take a break, kid. Those books aren't going anywhere, I promise." The older brother grabbed one of the three sleeping bags and threw it at his younger brother. "Get some sleep, you've slept less than Dad has which I always thought was impossible."

Disbelief ran through him. Dean didn't want him to figure this out? This was what Sam did best, research. Research until he put all of the pieces together and discovered what they were dealing with-whether John believed it or not, Dean did nine times out of ten. "Dean I need to-"

"And how," Dean interrupted, adopting a tone that was beginning to become angry, "Do you plan on doing that when you can't keep your eyes open? Just take a nap-"

"I'm not some little kid that needs to 'take a nap'! How am I going to figure out what the hell is going on when I can't research-"

The middle Winchester crossed his arms and put on his best 'I'm your big brother, do as you're told' look. "You're tired. Go. To. Sleep, Sam. You'd be less bitchy-hopefully-if you caught some shut eye, too. God knows we don't need your female hormognes all over the place right now."

Sam threw the sleeping bag at his brother's face, though to his disappointment Dean's reflexes were fast enough to catch it, and made his way out the door, slamming it on his way out. He heard his name called a couple of times before he rolled his eyes and quickened his pace, heading for the Impala and John's truck.

On his way he saw his dad walking around the perimeter, cell phone held up to his ear. Sam snorted, it was amazing they even received signal up here. Making his way through the field full of weeds that came up to his knees, Sam eventually reached the forest edge. As he entered the woods he thought back to his argument with Dean.

The eighteen year old wasn't some kid Dean could just order around, he got enough of that from his father. A part of him knew Dean was worried about him, but the other part wanted to be independent and being independent did not mean having your older brother give you a nap time. Sam fumed angrily until he reached the hidden vehicles. He'd been gone about twenty-five minutes if his watch was right and he felt a little guilty and embarassed about his behavior. Dean was just watching out for him, not trying to be a jerk-it just came out that way to Sam.

Sitting on the hood of the Impala, Sam looked around at the surrounding scenery. In a way it was peaceful, the forest was quiet with only the wind making any noise. But in another way it was extremely creepy. No crickets or birds were chirping, now that he thought about it there were no animals in sight. It was almost like the wild life could sense his supernatural presence.

"Wow." he muttered to himself quietly. It was hard for Sam to think of himself as paranormal now, but that was exactly what he was. For now, anyway. He had to have faith that he and his family would figure everything out and would get everything back to normal. Sam had heard of cases where someone would experience a life changing event and fell into a depression, losing hope. If there was one thing Sam would not let himself, or his brother and father, do it was to lose hope. Which meant he needed to stop fighting with his father _and_ his brother. They needed to keep their heads clear and not be constantly bickering angrily with one another. Sam had to admit, he was really tired.

With a small sigh, Sam leaned back against the Impala's windshield and shut his eyes. _Just for a few minutes,_ he told himself hastily, _I won't even fall asleep_. Not long after he'd finished the thought, the eighteen year old drifted off to sleep.

*Supernatural*

Dean paced back and forth in front of the building, eyes constantly darting around for his baby brother. Sam had disappeared out the front door almost an hour previously. The older sibling was aware that the trip to the cars took about roughly twenty minutes, but that was if Sam even went to the vehicles. Despite the fact they were supposed to stick close to the house, Sam had a habit of not obeying his father's orders.

"Where's your brother?" John asked, coming outside and looking for any signs of his youngest son. "Dinner's ready." Dinner tonight for the Winchester family were a few sandwiches and chips John had picked up at the last gas station. He planned on going into town the next day for more supplies since he knew Sam would be dying to go to the library and Dean would probably appreciate some new reading material from a convenience store, too.

"I dunno." Dean admitted reluctantly as he quit his pacing to look at his father, "He left a while ago and he hasn't come back, if that bitch is sulking in a log somewhere I'm going to be pissed."

An uneasy feeling settled in John's stomach upon hearing the answer to his question. Now wasn't the time for his sons to wander off, especially in unknown territory. "I thought I said-"

"To not go off, yeah, I know. But you know Sammy. I'll go-"

John cut him off, "I'll go check the cars, you stay here in case he comes back." The father needed to have a few words with his youngest son anyway, John figured he'd knock out two birds with one stone. He began walking quickly towards the edge of the woods, focused on finding his son. John had high hopes of finding Sam at the vehicles, Sam was by no means stupid and knew not to go too far from his family or at least too far away from any weapons.

As Dean picked his pacing back up, he hoped his brother was okay and was going to kick his ass if he was.

**Leave a review if you like it or not!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Warnings for language...and some major fluff between John and Sam...as in as fluffy as I think I've ever been.**

John honestly couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the Impala. He had expected Sam to be blowing off steam, doing some running maybe. Dean had been so worried about his brother and here he was sleeping as if he didn't have a care in the world. John took in a deep breath, preparing himself to chew out his youngest when a voice sounded in his head, _Talk to him_. He let the breath out shakily, the voice sounded just like Mary.

Doing a swift three-sixty, John saw no one in sight. That didn't necessarily mean nothing was messing with him but it didn't mean something was. Everyone once in a while John would hear his deceased wife's voice, almost like she was guiding him to do the right thing. She'd done the same thing when she was alive, always helping him figure things out so he did what was best.

Running a hand over his face, the father sighed heavily. Sam mumbled something in his sleep and John wandered how long the boy had been sleeping.

The hunter walked over to the Impala and gently shook Sam awake. It took a couple of tries but eventually Sam was sitting up, eyes widening as if he didn't realize where he was. John sat on top of the Chevy's hood beside his youngest and tried to figure out how to start the conversation. He had a feeling Mary wouldn't want him to start shouting.

"Dad?" Sam yawned, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

"We were worried." he stated bluntly, thinking it best to get straight to the point. "Dean especially. You know how he gets, Sammy."

The eighteen year old snorted quietly, "He doesn't need to be worried and it's _Sam_."

John didn't even try to hide his smile, "I don't think your brother and I are ever going to stop calling you 'Sammy', no matter how many times you correct us." He missed conversations like this, the ones where the words just flowed naturally and they seemed to be the right words to say. John threw a quick glance at Sam and saw the teen was smiling slightly. Yeah, those were definitely the right words to use. He sighed and lightly tapped his fingernails on the metal of the car. "You shouldn't have run off. We don't know the area and I think recent circumstances-"

"'Circumstances'? Dad, this is more than just a 'circumstance'." Sam half-shouted, the smile that had been on his face barely thirty seconds ago gone in an instant. "We were bit by people who turn into freaking _dogs_! Dean turned into a _dog_. We're going to turn into _dogs_. That's a hell of a lot more than a circumstance!"

It took everything John had to calmly say, "Don't raise your voice at me, Samuel."

Sam climbed off of the Impala and took several steps away from his father so he had his back facing John. He crossed his arms over his chest and sulked, reminding John of a much younger Sam. He'd always get a certain look on his face, mouth set in a pouty frown and his eyebrows drawn together. At the time it only angered the father at the obvious sign of some kind of childish rebellion, but now it made him want to laugh. Eighteen year old Sam and six year old Sammy weren't all that different.

Both had been independent, always wanting to do things to prove they were grown up. Fighting with John was another similarity, though when Sam was six it was more about eating ice cream for breakfast rather than questioning every order. When Sam was six he was always asking things like _Why do we move so much? Why's the sky blue?,Why did Daddy put salt around the room? _and John's personal favorite was when Sam would simply ask 'Why?' after almost every statement. _No Sam, you can't have beer. Why? Because it's for adults. Why? Because I said so. Why?_ Now that Sam was older his questions had become more complex, as had the rest of him. _Why do we have to hunt? Why can't I go to school?_

John had always wanted his boys to have everything they wanted, but that wasn't how the world worked. A demon wasn't going to ask Sam if he wanted it to kill him or not. A ghost wasn't going to stop attacking Dean because he wanted it to. He wanted Sam to go to school, become a lawyer or whatever he was interested in now. He wanted Dean to pick a girl and stick with her, maybe have a couple kids. He wanted Mary.

Well, too damn bad. Since when had the Winchester family had what they wanted? Why couldn't they catch a break?

Realizing he had a mad son to deal with, John brought himself back to reality. He cleared his throat, "Sam, son, you and me picking at each other all the time isn't going to work anymore." John heard Sam snort loudly and saw him shake his head in annoyance. "We're going to be under the same roof until we figure this shit out and you getting pissed at my word choice isn't helping anyone. Tiring yourself out isn't either. Dean and I may be more...hands on about things, but your brother is going to be climbing the walls without anything to do. Us doing some research won't kill us."

John watched as Sam's back seemed to relax a bit and he knew he was getting through to the kid.

"He told me to take a nap, Dad. A nap." Sam said as if it were the worst thing in the world. John raised an eyebrow but made no verbal response. Sam's back tightened again and he said, "I'm not some little kid that has to have a nap time, I don't care what you and Dean think."

But that's where Sam was wrong. John knew Sam always cared what his father and Dean thought. If he didn't, why didn't he go to college? Sam loved his family too much to just leave. John got off of the Impala and leaned against the front instead as he said, "You don't have to like it Sammy, but you're the baby of the family and you always will be no matter what. To us you're still the goofy grinned five year old who needed a haircut and had a milk mustache. You're not the eighteen year old who wants to take on the world in our eyes."

Sam cleared his throat before he said, "I think we should head back. Dean's probably freaking out more than usual." The teenager began walking towards the house, not looking to see if John was following him. John sighed and pulled his truck keys out of his pocket. He opened his truck and grabbed a weapons bag before closing the door and following his youngest son.

*Supernatural*

Sam rolled over in his sleeping bag, unable to get to sleep. His conversation with John was still playing itself over and over in his head. John knew how to manipulate him and Dean, he'd been doing it for years. Was this just another manipulation game or was his father speaking from the heart? With John Winchester, it was always hard to tell.

While John's manipulations were full of good intentions, that didn't make all of them right. When Dean was eight, he'd been told the only way to protect Sam was to learn how to fire a gun. When Sam was eight John had told him the only way to save Dean and John was to learn how to hunt and do medical field work. John knew which buttons to press and when to press them.

Sam had no doubt his father loved him and Dean both, but the man's priorities were always blurred. Hunting soon became more important than his sons' health and well-being. That's when Sam first began to pull away from his dad, when he realized hunting was possibly the most dangerous thing in the world.

But today...it honestly didn't sound like John was trying to get him to do anything but get along for as long as they could. And he knew his dad was right, picking at each other over stupid, little things was pointless. All that would do was drive the wedge between them further and further into their relationship which was rocky anyway.

In no way did Sam hate his father. Sure, sometimes the thought would cross his mind but he never meant it, it was just the heat of the moment talking. He sighed heavily and rolled over again on the hard, wood floor. Sam screwed his eyes shut and tried to get some sleep, God knew he was going to need it.

*Supernatural*

Dean knew he was dreaming the instant he opened his eyes and found himself in the field with Grace and Max. Max had a strong, firm grip on the back of Dean's neck as Grace spoke, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

"Well," Dean put on a charming smile, "I'm known for doing things _my_ way, bitch. So let's skip past this and get to the part where my family and I leave your corpses as ashes."

"Cute." Grace faked a smile and crossed her arms over her chest, "You have two options, Dean. First, you can cooperate with Max and me. Do as we instruct you to and you and your family may leave."

"And what's the catch?"

Max answered, "Believe me, you'll all be back. You've got no idea what you're dealing with and we're the only ones who can help."

Grace continued on, tossing her hair over her shoulders. "Number two, you can resist all you want. Consequences include not only the death of your family but also you will be putting yourself through a very painful change. See, Max and I have ways of making people turn, whether they want to or not."

The middle Winchester swallowed. Did he want to cooperate with these people? Hell to the no. But...they were threatening John and Sam. His family. "Why would you kill us, though?" He asked, stalling for time. Maybe John would find a way to escape, kill their captors, and then come and save him from-

"Easy. All I need to do is make new wolves." Grace waved her hand in the air as if it was a matter beneath her, "Wouldn't take me more than an hour. And I never said I'd kill _you_, I said I'd kill your father and brother."

She would kill Sam and John and then force Dean to remain in the land of the living? Dean began leaning towards the first option almost instantly. What was the point of his life if his family wasn't in it?

He woke to the sun shining in his eyes and a very familiar face wearing a trucker hat standing in front of him.

"Bobby?" Dean said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

**So, Dean's dream/memory was a teensy bit hard to write, I had to erase several parts and re-write them a couple of times so please tell me what you guys thought about that part. **

**Surprisingly, the beginning part came easily.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Previously: **"Bobby?" Dean said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

**Now:**

"Thank God this place is off the map," the older man smirked, "You were in such a deep sleep I walked right up on ya', boy." Dean groaned before letting his eyes slide shut again and rolling over so he was no longer facing Bobby Singer.

John chose that moment to walk in from the house's kitchen where he had been using the kitchen sink to brush his teeth, extremely thankful of Bobby for calling ahead of schedule and turning on the water. John wasn't too happy about anyone knowing the house was being used, but Bobby assured him it was a private company and that he knew the owner so John's name would be unlisted under any information. The father had decided against using the tap water, though he was pretty amazed the pipes hadn't rusted and worked well enough, and had used bottled water instead of taking the chance. He walked in and ordered, "Get up, Dean, and get dressed. We're going into town soon for food."

As always, food seemed to be the key word for the middle Winchester. In no more than ten minutes, Dean was fully dressed and stumbling over Sam's sleepy form. When John and Sam had returned the previous night, Dean had considered beating the hell out of his brother when he discovered the kid had merely fallen asleep. But he decided to let it slide this time. Things were pretty stressful given the situation and Dean didn't want to make things worse, especially since Sam seemed pretty withdrawn when he walked through the door.

"Come on Sam," Dean whined, grabbing his still half asleep brother's arm and pulling him to his feet. He let Sam get his balance before releasing his grip. Sam, looking annoyed to no end, sent a glare at the middle Winchester but made his way to the bathroom, picking his duffel up on the way. "You better not take forever either, Samantha!" Dean hollered when the door shut.

"You're in a good mood." Bobby stated, glancing between John and Dean, "Considering all that's happened, I mean."

Dean swallowed and put his gaze to the floor before shrugging, "Doesn't matter...we'll find a way to fix it so why worry?" The lie slid off his tongue casually, but on the inside Dean wanted to shut the world out when Bobby had brought _that_ subject up. He was putting on a show, just like always. If Sam could keep being a regular, grumpy bitch and John could still shout orders then Dean could put up a wall and do his best to be himself.

Bobby raised an eyebrow but didn't push the issue, for which Dean was more than grateful for. Eventually Sam emerged from the bathroom wearing an old t-shirt and jeans. He slid on some socks and shoes and the hunters walked to the vehicles where Bobby's rusty pick up truck was now parked next to the Impala.

Deciding to save gas, the hunters all climbed into the Impala.

"Keys, Dean." John said, holding his hand out as he walked to the driver's side.

Dean felt his jaw drop, "Why can't I drive _my_ car? No offense but-"

"Dean." John made a gesture with his hands and Dean sighed heavily, tossing the keys over the Impala and into his father's waiting hands. He got into the back with Sam while Bobby took shotgun. Glancing at his brother Dean was amazed Sam's knees weren't punching holes into the driver seat.

"This bites," Dean grumbled to his brother who gave a patient smile and pointed to his knees.

"Yes, yes it does." Sam returned and winced when John's weight pushed into his knees from the driver's seat. "God." he muttered, doing his best to get comfortable against the window as John started the engine. Dean looked in the rearview mirror to see John wincing in discomfort himself.

"Maybe I should drive," Dean suggested, "And Sam should take shot gun. That way you two can sit comfortably in the back like the old timers you really are."

"I second that notion."

"Over ruled." John stated simply. Dean and Sam shared a suffering glance before looking out their own windows, watching the tree infested scenery go by as John drove and Bobby talked about some hunt Caleb had been hurt on recently.

"Idjit broke his damn leg thanks to some spirit." Bobby said and Dean could just picture him rolling his eyes dramatically. "He's stayin' with Jim 'til he gets better."

"Caleb's always breaking something." Sam snorted, "Like that time in Tampa when he broke four of his toes because he dropped a brick on them-"

Dean laughed and added, "Or Boston when he let a truck roll over his foot-"

"And then in Dixon he made some dude mad and got punched in the nose and that broke."

"Caleb's got no luck." John shook his head with a little. He loved these moments when he and his sons got along. They were rare nowadays, had been since Sam hit the teen years and began challenging him on a daily basis. It was nice to get a break from the supernatural world and talk about regular stuff.

Bobby nodded in obvious agreement, "Man's a five leaf clover."

The rest of the drive to town was spent in a comfortable silence. Sam had to keep himself from complaining about his knees digging into the seat in front of him, but overall it was an okay drive. When they finally made it into town, they found the closes fast food restaraunt and ate before going to a local grocery store and stocking up on food and first aid supplies. Bobby bought the Winchesters some reading material, despite the fact John told him not to. He got Sam a novel and John and Dean car magazines.

Walking around the grocery store, John couldn't help but notice how easily Dean found the best bargains. Now that he thought about, he hadn't set foot in a grocery store in years-he'd sent Dean the day the boy turned sixteen.

John released a sigh, he had a feeling he was going to be spending a lot more time in grocery stores now that this...curse was upon his family. He was startled out of his thoughts when someone sneezed loudly behind him. The father spun around and saw Sam wrinkling his nose in annoyance. "Bless you." he muttered before returning his attention to the grocery cart and following Dean around, feeling very much like a pack mule.

"Thanks." Sam returned quietly, sniffing.

When the Winchesters and Bobby went down the health aisle, Bobby began grabbing needed items while Dean ventured off to find cold medicine. John couldn't help but chuckle when Sam insisted he was fine, that he didn't have a cold, and it was just a random sneeze.

"With you, Sammy, it's never _just_ a random sneeze." Dean snorted, tossing a small white box into the buggie. "Trust me, you'll be thanking me by tomorrow."

John hesitated when he saw the price on the shelf. Four bucks for cold medicine? He was tempted to look for something cheaper but knew Dean would've already picked out the cheapest item that was effective. He glanced at his sons and saw they were beginning to move on down the aisle so he started after them.

He'd always found it weird how well Dean knew Sam and vice versa. John was willing to bet all the money in his wallet-as well as the fake credit cards-that Sam would be suffering from a cold tomorrow morning, just like Dean predicted.

Eventually the hunters returned to the woods and the house and began unloading their supplies.

"Looks like you boys have company," Bobby inclined his head toward the front porch as he grabbed a few plastic bags of supplies. The Winchesters spun their heads around, ready to jump into action.

"Is that a friggin' cat?" Dean asked incredulously. A small, black cat with white feet was sitting on the front porch right in front of the door. It had yellow eyes that stared at the Winchesters intently, curiously.

"Might explain why there're no other things 'round here." Sam shrugged, putting the grocery bag he had in his hand down on the ground and making his way to the feline. Dean rolled his eyes and grabbed the bag his brother had put down. By the time Dean, John, and Bobby had reached the house with all of the bags Sam was sitting on the steps, cat in his lap, and petting the animal.

"We're not keeping it, Sammy, don't get attached." John warned firmly. The past eighteen years had been full of Sam bringing home stray animals. From snakes, dogs, toads, cats, mice, and even a rabbit once, Sam had always found the animals and begged his dad to let him keep one.

Sam's hazel eyes looked up at his father, hair in his face, and the kid looked like he was twelve years old again. "But she was here first! We can't just kick her out." Unknowingly, Sam delivered the 'puppy-dog' look on his father.

And didn't that just make John feel like an ass? Damn it. Before he knew what he was doing John sighed, "Fine. You can keep it-"

"Not an it, a her." Sam corrected happily, grinning widely. He picked up the cat and followed the others into the house.

*Supernatural*

"What's Bobby even doing here?" Dean asked his brother as the two sat on the front porch steps. They were about a foot apart with the cat in between them. Dean had come up with a name as a joke, never knowing the name would stick. Socks was now officially part of the Winchester clan, and Dean knew even John was learning to love the feline after just one day.

Sam shrugged as he absently petted Socks, "You know he and dad are close, when Dad called him he probably came straight here."

"Makes sense."

"I always make sense, don't I Socks?"

Dean groaned, "God, just when I thought you couldn't get any lamer you start talking to cats."

"Hey, it's a proven study that cats make people live longer!" Sam replied, scratching the feline behind the ears. He let out another sneeze and Dean handed him a paper towel he had pulled from his pocket, knowing his brother was going to need it. Sam accepted the gift gratefully and blew his nose.

"Hope you're not allergic to her." Dean muttered. He knew his brother would be a bit heartbroken if he actually was allergic to the cat. Sam had seemed to become attached at the hip to the animal. Every time he entered a room, Socks wasn't far behind.

"I've been around cats before, Dean. Besides, didn't that lady have a cat a few weeks ago? That really weird one with the fake eye. I wasn't sneezing then-"

"So you agree with me you've got a cold-"

"Not what I'm saying."

Dean smirked, "That's okay, you don't have to say anything. Big brother's always right."

**I PROMISE WOLF!DEAN NEXT CHAPTER. Maybe even some wolf!Sam & John, too. ;).  
**

**A bit shorter than usual but...it felt like a good place to stop.**

**I know many of you are thinking there is no way the house can be in this good condition since it hadn't been used in years, **_**there is**_** a reason for this. Promise. Give me some time and all shall be explained! And by time I mean a few chapters.**

**And just to clear up any confusion, Bobby came because he was worried about the Winchesters. He's the one who gave them the information on the house so he knew they'd be there.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Remember I don't own what you recognize.**

**Takes place same day as previous chapter, just in case you were wondering.**

Later that day, Bobby brought in several stacks of books and papers. He put all of his belongings on the couch and said, "This is everything I could find that could help us out."

"Wow." Dean muttered, picking a book up, not too surprised that he couldn't read the cover. Bobby had a lot of books like that, ones written in Latin or Arabic or some other language. The man had more books and contacts than Dean could count, but maybe that was a good thing.

Sam grabbed a couple of books and went to a corner of the room. He lied down on the wood floor and stretched out on his stomach so he could read easier. The eighteen year old was soon oblivious to the world that wasn't in the first book he had picked up. The middle Winchester grabbed a book written in English and went to the kitchen, tossing the book on the old wood, round table. He went to the sink where a cooler Bobby had brought sat on the counter.

They hadn't wanted to take the chance with turning on the electricity, so the house was still being lit by lanterns and flashlights during the night and by the sunlight during the day. This meant no refridgerator. Instead, they had bought some ice at the store to keep a few things cold that would be eaten for lunch while the rest of the food would have to be non-perishable and able to be cooked over a campfire.

Dean retrieved a soda and shut the lid when he got the feeling of being watched. He quickly reached into the back of his jeans, pulling out a gun and spinning around to come face to face with...

...Socks.

"Damn it, Socks." Dean shook his head and replaced his gun, going to the table and sitting down. "Scared the crap out of me." She let out a small meow before jumping onto the table and walking over to his soda. "I don't think so, Killer." he pulled the drink away from the feline before popping it open and taking a sip. "Now," he put the soda down and picked the cat up, "if you don't mind," Dean put Socks on the floor and pulled the book sitting on the table closer to him, "I've got research to do."

Heavy footsteps alerted Dean to his father's presence and he looked up to see John holding a notebook and a pen out to him. "Write down anything that could be important."

"Yes sir." Dean nodded, accepting the items and placing them on the table. He watched as his father left the room with Socks trailing after him.

*Supernatural*

For two days the Winchesters and Bobby researched and researched. They made lists of information, anything that seemed important to note. Now, it was evening and the hunters were gathered in the living room. Bobby and John were sitting on the couch while Sam and Dean sat on the floor. Socks was, surprisingly, outside by herself. The feline had usually been underfoot for the past two days until Bobby stepped on her tail, causing her to hiss loudly and hurry to the front door where Dean let her out. They hadn't purchased any type of cat food, instead feeding her random things from their ownplate. Though John claimed he saw her chewing on something one morning in the front yard.

"So what's the verdict?" John asked the group. "Bobby?"

Bobby repositioned his hat on his head as he answered, "Well, there's all kinds of shit this could be. Since I haven't seen it first hand I'm not really sure what we're dealing with here and I've never even heard of...well, this. But, I guess we could just start doing some testing to narrow our options down.

"There's silver, mistletoe-"

"Whoa!" Dean cut him off, looking very startled, "There's no way I'm kissing any of you guys! Sorry but that is where I draw the line!"

Sam elbowed his brother, "He means drinking it or touching it, Dean." The eighteen year old let out two loud sneezes, ignoring his brother's smirk.

"Told you you were gettin' sick."

The oldest hunter continued, throwing an annoyed glance at the middle Winchester, "We could try wolfsbane, holy water, rye, Devil's Traps, salt, and anything else we can find."

"Dean?" John prompted, turning his attention to his oldest son.

The twenty-two year old reported, "As far as I could tell there are no records of anything like this happening. I found a few werewolf legends but since we aren't really sure what this is there's no point in putting all of our faith on one story that might not even involve us." He looked at his younger brother, "And what did you find, Geek Boy?"

Rolling his eyes Sam answered, "There are a couple of old-and I'm talking _old, old_-rituals that could have turned someone into...whatever this is...and then they began biting people or scratching them or exchanging blood-"

"That's not disgusting at all." Dean commented but Sam continued as if he hadn't heard him, "-and now you've got this species that no one knows about. Either the ritual was performed recently and people like Grace are just good at hiding it or-"

"Or the ritual was performed a long time ago and they've been under the radar." John finished. Either way they were basically screwed. They had no real information, the only way to figure anything out would to be Bobby's method of doing testing.

"We can get a lot of this in town." Bobby said, glancing at his watch. "It's almost eight, most places'd be closed by now. We'll have to wait until tomorrow."

The hunters dispersed throughout the house after their little meeting. When he had not been researching Dean had been working on the room he had claimed as his. The only furniture in the room was an old, wood dresser covered in dust. Little paw prints made a line on the top of the dresser, telling Dean that Socks had been in the room recently. His duffel sat next to the dresser and Dean went over to it, grabbing a knife from the bag.

Dean put a hand on the top drawer's handle and positioned his knife so he could easily stab at anything. Before opening it, the twenty-two year old leaned backwards. If something was going to jump out at him he wanted to be as far away as possible.

Once he had deemed the dresser safe enough, Dean put his things up and returned to the main room on the first floor.

*Supernatural*

John woke to a hissing noise. He slowly reached for the gun not too far away from his sleeping bag when the hisses stopped and was replaced with quiet meowing. Not wanting to take any chances, John grabbed the gun and rolled over to find Sam sleeping, Bobby snoring loudly, and Dean...gone.

He felt his world stop for a second. Where Dean had been sleeping only hours ago was a large wolf. The only light in the room was a lantern on a small table in the far corner of the room, a lantern John had told Sam to put out. Deciding to deal with the issue later, John got a better look at the animal-_Not an animal, my kid,_ John reminded himself. The wolf was black except for it's muzzle which was a mixture of gray, black, and white. It was curled up into a ball, eyes closed like it was sleeping.

Another hiss brought John's attention to Socks who was glaring at the wolf from not too far away from Dean's sleeping bag. The cat had taken to sleeping near the hunters, but she never touched them.

"It's okay," John soothed in a whisper, though he wasn't sure if he was trying to convince himself or the cat. His son was sleeping in front of him as a wolf. How the hell were they going to deal with this? John Winchester could deal with a lot of things, but this was going to be a tough one. Socks looked at him before curling into a very small ball and closing her eyes.

John took a deep breath and cleared his throat, "Dean."

Dean's ears twitched and his nose wiggled.

"Dean, get up."

After the obvious command Dean yawned and opened his eyes, looking over at his father. The black wolf blinked a few times and let out a bark that ended up turning into a yelp.

The noises then proceeded to wake Bobby and Sam. The eighteen year old didn't exactly know how to react so he just sat there, glancing between his father and his older brother. Bobby, however, pulled himself up from the ground and brought the lantern closer, setting it on the floor a few feet away from Dean.

"Just calm down, Ace." John swallowed. Now wasn't the time for everyone, especially Dean, to panic. He put his hands out in front of him in a calming gesture and Dean seemed to relax just slightly. "You must've..."

"Transformed?" Bobby supplied hesitantly with a shrug.

"Right. Transformed while you were sleeping."

"You said you'd already changed before, Dean." Sam added. Dean moved his shaggy head in a nod and Sam continued, "Then you know how to go back to being human, right?"

There was a comfortable pause as that information sunk in. Bobby made a gesture for Dean to go ahead and the wolf closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. Almost as soon as he inhaled he exhaled loudly, swinging his head around to look at Socks. The cat was still curled into a ball but now she was watching Dean. He let out a snarl, showing his teeth slightly.

"Dean-" Sam said questioningly but was cut off when the wolf let out a menacing bark. Socks jumped up and made to run-well, she would have if Dean hadn't have jumped in front of her and therefore cutting off her chances of escape. He gave another bark and Socks sat down, tail twitching.

"Dean, son," John said, "Leave the cat alone-"

Just as the words were out of the oldest Winchester's mouth, Socks was no longer a cat. She grew taller and lost her fur and soon was replaced by a tall girl who looked about eighteen or nineteen with long, curly brown hair and dark brown eyes. The girl wore a black sweater with a dark gray skirt but her feet were bare.

"What the hell?" John and Bobby said in unison. Sam was having a hard time keeping his mouth from falling open and Dean had stopped snarling, though he still looked as if he would attack her at any moment.

"Well," the girl said, clearing her throat, "This is a little awkward."

**So...I hope I left you hanging..just a little bit... Explanations next chapter! Reviews? Very much welcomed. Glad I got this one out on time!  
**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thanks for all the reviews! I'm getting a lot of support for this story that I never expected so just...THANKS for all of it!**

**SORRY it's late.  
**

The girl coughed quietly and cleared her throat, "I guess an introduction is in order... My name's Kathryn Rosemarie Jones, but I go by Katie. Or Kate. Or Kat." Before she could say much more the girl formerly known as 'Socks' had a snarling wolf at her feet baring his fangs and three hunters with guns aimed at her. She took a step backwards so her back was against the wall.

"You mind telling me _what the hell_ you are?" Bobby demanded. All of the hunters, with the exception of Dean, were still in their night clothes, meaning boxers and t-shirts, so Sam had to wonder if the girl-Katie-was intimidated at all. He was just glad their hunter paranoia had them putting guns within arms reach when they went to sleep.

She raised an eyebrow and replied, "What does it look like I am? I'm a person. And I'd really appreciate you three putting your guns down and calling off the hound here. I've shown you nothing but respect while you've been in my home and-"

"Your home?" Sam questioned, lowering his gun just slightly. "You live here?"

Katie nodded but explained, "I've lived here my whole life and if you would _please_ get rid of your weapons I would happily tell you-"

John cut her off, "So you've been spying on us? I knew letting the boys keep a pet was just asking for trouble. So what are you?"

"Listen," her eyes narrowed at John and the lantern in the room seemed to flicker for a few moments, "If I wanted to spy on you and sell you out or whatever you think I'm doing you'd be dead already. Your protections here suck-well, the ones you four put up do. Mr. Cortez's kick ass and they're pretty hard core."

"Dustin Cortez?" Bobby questioned suspiciously.

"The one and only." Katie's expression went from hard to relaxed quickly, "He found this place about ten or eleven years ago-sorry, time gets away from me. It's not like I can update a calendar every year. The only real way to keep time anymore is to make marks on the walls but that gets pretty boring."

Bobby ran a hand over his face and put his gun to his side, sighing. "Put your guns down, boys. Dean, you back off too."

"Bobby-" John protested along with an angry bark from the black wolf.

"Before Dustin died, and I'm talking about months before this happened, he told me he met a girl named Katie-Rose. Dusty thought the world of her, always sayin' how interesting she was. Now put your damn guns down." The Winchesters reluctantly did as they were told, though John definitely didn't look happy about it.

"Sounds like Mr. Cortez." Katie smiled fondly. But almost as quickly as the smile came it faded, "He stopped showing up a long time ago-I mean, he told me he was a hunter and all but I thought he'd at least visit every now and then when he wasn't hunting." The brown haired girl looked at Bobby, "But you said he...died?"

The oldest hunter gave her a sympathetic look, "Tried taking out a rawhead by himself about six, seven years ago."

Katie nodded sadly and sunk to the ground, back still against the wall as she pulled her knees to her chest, careful to keep her skirt at an angle to cover herself. "Mr. Cortez was a cool guy, I mean, I figured he'd...go eventually but it's easier to just think he stopped caring."

"Which brings us back to you." John said in what the hunters knew was John's 'hunter mode' voice. Dean barked several times, drawing the attention to him.

"You'd probably like to change back now, huh?" Katie sighed, "I'm not completely sure this'll work but when I first started changing forms I had to have a clear head and picture the transformation happening. Go ahead and try it."

The three human hunters divided their attention between Dean and Katie. They watched as Dean went still and closed his green eyes and in a matter of seconds there were loud _pops_ and _cracks_-and there stood a boxer and t-shirt clad Dean Winchester.

Sam let out a loud sneeze and grudgingly accepted a tissue from his father. John had bought the small box at the store and had placed it on the table for easy access.

"Didn't he say you were getitng sick? My mother used to do the same thing, predict when her children were getting sick." Katie smirked, stretching her legs out in front of her and crossing her arms over her chest. The girl glanced at the hunters before saying, "I was born October 11, 1683." Sam opened his mouth to comment but she didn't let him say anything, "My family was from a long line of witches and warlocks and when I was eight witches were being killed left and right. So, my parents moved my family down here to Tennessee. The Native Americans were pretty accepting of my dad and my older brothers building a cabin here, as long as we only took what we needed they didn't care.

"Anyway, life was pretty average if you didn't include all the witchcraft my parents taught us. We left the neighbors alone and they returned the favor."

"But how are you still here after all this time?" Sam asked, genuinely curious. His shaggy brown hair was messy and his unusual colored eyes were lit by the lantern light. "I mean, there aren't any immortal spells, right? I think we would've heard something if there was."

Katie shook her head, causing her dark brown hair to bounce gently. "No, no immortal spells. But there are immortal curses. When I was about eighteen, a man stopped by our house. He claimed to be a demon but Father sent him away. Unlike most witches and warlocks, we didn't use demon power. Our powers came with our souls, our bodies. It worked the same way for the most part, but there were no deals or evil involved.

"A few days later the same man came back with a younger man, Joseph Miller." she gave a sad smile and rolled her dark eyes, "I fell in love with him the second I saw him. Unfortunately he's the one who put this curse on me. Long story short, the man who said he was a demon really was a demon and was mad that my family didn't need his powers-we had our own. So he had Joseph put a curse on me. My oldest brother had already left home by this time, Abe had always wanted to go back to Salem, and my sister Marie contracted some sort of sickness when I was fifteen, which just left me, Father, Mother, and my brother Gabriel."

Dean, who was standing beside his baby brother now, prompted, "So why did this Joseph guy just curse you? Why not your whole family?"

The young looking witch shrugged slowly, "I was the youngest, my powers weren't as developed as the rest of my family's. I stood a lesser chance of resisting the curse. The thing about curses and spells is sometimes whoever is receiving them can counter it; but the thing is it has to be the receiver's power and no one else's to counter it or resist it. My family couldn't help me no matter what, the curse was locked onto my body, my soul, my power. Besides," she glanced at Sam, "I was the baby of the family, my siblings and my parents were very protective of me. Imagine the pain they went through knowing they couldn't help me."

John glanced over at his two sons and knew the worst kind of torture was a parent not being able to help their children. He hadn't been in the situation too many times, but he hated the feeling. The oldest Winchester was a man of action and hated feeling useless.

Bobby cleared his throat before saying, "No offense, sweetheart, but what the hell are you doing 'round here? If I was you I'd be out in the world."

"The curse won't let me age and I'm bound to the remains of my family's house." Katie explained softly, focusing on a spot on the floor, "Mr. Cortez built this house so I could occupy myself with something to do and he put protections on it, hoping it'd scare the uninformed humans away and keep the creatures out."

"So you've been cleaning all the time?" Sam guessed, "That would explain why the place was so clean-"

"Oh, God no!" she laughed, "I don't like to clean. My Mother put a spell on our old house not long after we moved here that kept the place tidy, I guess it just carried over onto this house since the remains are buried under this place."

John sighed and looked over his shoulder at the window where the sun was rising. Another thought occurred to him and he returned his gaze to the witch, "Why aren't there animals here? There are no mice, deere, birds, hell I don't think I've seen a damn butterfly go near this place."

"Animals can sense paranormal activity," Katie looked at Dean, "Like you did earlier. You knew I wasn't a cat but you probably didn't peg me as human either. Every once in a while something will get curious and poke it's head in but for the most part I have to roll in mud for a good ten minutes-"

The youngest Winchester let out another sneeze and cursed, walking over to the table and grabbing the tissue box. He and the Kleenex box went back to his earlier spot and he began blowing his nose, face reddening slightly as the occupants of the room seemed to focus on him. "Sorry," he muttered. Just when he thought he couldn't get anymore embarassed a loud grumble erupted from his stomach.

"Let's get some food," Bobby chuckled at the youngest Winchester's embarassment

**Okay, long a/n coming up:**

**I wasn't exactly happy with this chapter...so your thoughts via review/PM very much appreciated.  
**

**Whew. Well, now you know about Socks! From the reviews I've received, thanks for all of them by the way, you guys are pretty curious as to whether or not Katie is good or bad...we'll get to that eventually ;).**

**Sorry if this felt like Katie monologuing a lot but I wasn't too sure how else to give her back story-I mean, I could've done a flashback but I'm not sure how everyone would have felt about that... But it's definitely an idea I'll hold onto. Maybe a separate one-shot about what happened? Yes? No? **

**Poor Sam's got a cold! Big brother's always right, Sammy. I'll try and get wolf!Sam and wolf!John into the next chapter. There'll also be more explanations later but it's nothing too major, just some little details here and there.**

**I would also like to say this: Guys, we're not even half-way through what I've got planned for this story. There will be some hurt!Dean, hurt!Sam, possibly hurt!John, and possibly hurt!Katie but I dunno if you guys care about her too much yet.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry it's been a while since an update...lost inspiration. Updates won't be once a week anymore, obviously, they'll be whenever I finish a chapter. **

The youngest Winchester glanced at his father, who looked pretty tense. It'd been an hour since the hunters discovered Socks was actually Katie Jones-a witch. John was cleaning the weapons, but Sam had a suspicion that John just wanted an excuse to have a gun out at a moment's notice-just in case Katie tried something.

He wasn't really sure what to think about the curly haired witch. It was odd to think of her as a supernatural being; she just seemed like a normal teenage girl. Katie hadn't said much since her big revealing, but Sam figured she wasn't used to having an audience to talk to.

The topic of his thoughts was currently bringing books up from the cellar, which none of the hunters knew was under the house. Apparently Katie and Cortez had disguised it behind an old bookcase to use as a safe room. The girl had explained that it led to a tunnel that went under the woods and ended close to an old diner. Cortez had been the one to build the tunnel since Katie couldn't leave the lot and if it really did end up in town it had to be a few miles long.

"These are all the books that I have." Katie said, dropping a pile of ancient tomes next to John at the kitchen table.

Sam left his spot on the counter and made his way to the books. Some of the covers were missing and some were written in only Latin. Almost all of the reading material looked as if it would turn to dust if anyone so much as glanced at it. "This should be fun," Dean muttered sarcastically.

Everyone, excluding John who remained with the weapons, grabbed a book and began flipping through the pages. Sam carefully read through the Latin, taking extra care to slowly turn a page so it wouldn't rip. The room fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence, the only sounds consisting of Sam's sniffles and sneezes, John's weapon cleaning, and the turning of pages.

After a good two hours the group hadn't found much. "I'm leaning towards curse," Katie eventually said with a sigh, startling the youngest Winchester from his reading.

"We were bitten, though." Dean pointed out, tossing his book on the table where it landed with a thud. Katie glared at him when the cover of the book slid off. "Sorry."

"These books are older than you are, show some respect." She retorted before taking a deep breath, "If someone cursed a person that could just have been the beginning of a chain reaction. Let's say that person infected someone else, whether it be by bite or blood exchange or some other way. The magic-users I knew were interested in trying new spells and coming up with their own. Maybe whoever casted the original curse on the first...wolf intended for it to be on just that one person."

"But something went wrong or they used the wrong words." Bobby added in agreement, "The words could've had double meanings or hell, maybe the bastard wanted to make a new species."

Katie nodded, "Exactly. Now," she closed her own book and set it gently on the table, "I don't know about you guys but reading for two hours is exhausting. See ya' later." And in the blink of an eye she was back to the feline the hunters had gotten used to. She hurried out the front door where Sam had a feeling she would find a spot on the porch to curl up on.

John ran a hand over his face as he got up to shut the front door. He returned to the weapons, which were now spotlessly clean, and said, "I think we need to get out of here."

"What? Why?" Sam demanded, confused and angry. He actually liked it here. There were no noisy neighbors or creepy motel managers and they weren't eating at a diner for every meal.

"Sam, we're living with a damn witch." John reminded him coldly, "Blood rituals and sacrifices-ring any bells?"

"Being tied to the area doesn't give her much room to kill anyone Dad. So what she's a witch? We're not exactly human anymore either and we haven't killed each other yet."

Dean groaned, tilting his head to the ceiling, "If you guys don't quit arguing there's gonna be someone killing the both of you."

Bobby snorted and stood up, readjusting his ball cap before leaving the room to let Sam and John hash it out themselves. The gruff hunter wasn't surprised when Dean followed him. They tuned out the two Winchesters instead focusing on their own conversation about some new cars Bobby had received at the Salvage Yard. Dean once again asked why they couldn't just head to Bobby's place.

"Too many hunters, kid. You know I've got one of the best research stations this side of the country." Bobby replied, "I'm sure we could keep your little secret under wraps for a while but eventually someone will figure it out, or at least know something's up."

"I'm so tired of them fighting." Dean told the man after a lapse in their conversation. "It's almost all they do anymore."

"I know and I'm sorry they're too stubborn to pull their heads outta their asses but you know they're too alike for their own good."

Eventually John entered the kitchen and they heard the front door slam shut. Raising an eyebrow at John Bobby asked, "What'd you say?"

"We're leaving." John reported, turning to Dean, "Start packing up your stuff Dean. You boys have an hour before we hit the road."

Dean got up tiredly, not sure how he felt about leaving. Bobby sighed heavily and questioned, "Any idea where you're going?"

"Nope. We've been out of the game for a while now and we need to get back in action. We'll pretend this curse or whatever it is never happened and continue on like we never met the others."

"And what the hell is going to happen when Dean turns in his sleep again? Hm? Or what if those others track you down? John you can't just hide all of this and pretend it never existed!"

John slammed his fist down on the nearest wall and spat, "Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Singer. My family, my boys, my problem." The father stomped out of the kitchen, heading up the stairs.

"You're gonna get yourself and the boys killed, John." Bobby muttered sadly, shaking his head. He knew there was no arguing with a pissed off John Winchester, though. Whatever John wanted he forced himself to get no matter what the costs. If John wanted to pretend this never happened, he'd make it so. He'd push and push until someone exploded-most likely Sam. But that's just how the Winchesters worked. They hid emotions behind walls that were too strong to break through. Dean and John were naturals at it, but Sam only hid when he didn't want to talk.

The kid had grown up with a family that didn't have 'chick flick moments' despite the fact Sam craved them. And now John was going to force his children to ignore something that simply couldn't be ignored.

"Damn it." Bobby cursed.

*Supernatural*

"Something wrong?" Katie asked, raising an eyebrow at the youngest Winchester as he stormed from the house. As soon as he'd slammed the door Katie had switched from cat to human.

"My dad just being an ass." Sam replied heatedly, leaving the porch and going to the yard. Katie followed him. "He wants to leave because he thinks you're gonna kill us in our sleep."

She snorted, "If I wanted to kill you I would have already. First company I've had in years, no use in poisoning your food or slashing your throats." At his blank expression she shrugged, "Come on, he's your dad. He's just worried. If it makes him feel better he can lock me in the attic or something-"

"We're leaving in an hour."

They walked around the yard in silence for several minutes. "What about the whole wolf thing?"

"He wants to go back to the way things were." Sam laughed humorlessly, shoving his fists into his jean pockets. "Just wants to go around hunting like we never got bitten."

"Well that's gonna be-" She was cut off when Sam sneezed loudly. "Still got that cold?"

"Shut up Katie."

"Anyway, it's gonna be impossible to act like nothing happened when it obviously did happen."

"How about you try explaining that to him? Doesn't matter. Dad's word is law at my house, even if he's wrong."

Katie sent him a sympathetic, sad smile. "Sorry to hear that. Maybe you guys can figure it out...maybe Bobby can drive down every once in a while and give me some new books...?"

Sam took a moment to realize how hard this had to be on the witch. She was going to be back where she had been the majority of her life: alone. The only people she'd seen in years were just up and leaving within the next hour and she would be back to sitting around, waiting for some other person to show up. "I'm sure he wouldn't care." She gave him a hopeful look and Sam felt like he'd been punched in the stomach.

**A/N: Sorry, no wolf!Sam or wolf!John. :( This chapter just didn't call for it. And I also apologize sincerely for the wait...I just haven't had the inspiration for this story, I guess. Plus I'm still working out a few details. In my opinion I really didn't like this chapter.**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Gigantic thanks to SPN Mum. If it weren't for you I'm pretty sure I'd be stuck with no sign of moving forward. :)**

Dean was fully packed and ready to hit the road...sort of. He would rather figure out how to control the whole wolf-shifting part of him from Katie but his family would be leaving soon. The middle Winchester carried his duffel bag down stairs and tossed it next to the front door before returning to the kitchen and grabbing a beer. He took a seat at the table with Bobby.

He sent a look out the kitchen window to see Katie and Sam talking while they walked around. Sam looked pissed and Katie looked disappointed.

"I'll probably drop by every now and then," Bobby spoke quietly, pulling Dean's attention from the window to the hunter. "Check up on her."

The younger man nodded and swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat. He'd never been forced to stay in one place, not really. Dean didn't count the first four years of his life in Lawrence because he didn't remember them or the house all that much. But he couldn't imagine living in one place for so long-especially as long as Katie seemed to have. If he was honest with himself, Dean kind of liked Katie. He was still hesitant, of course, she was a witch after all but it wasn't like she'd tried to kill them or anything. There was just something about her that reminded him of Sam.

The witch migt be hundreds of years old but the way she talked and acted over the past few hours, as well as her appearance, reminded Dean she'd never really grown up. THere was still that look in her eyes that Sam still got, that look of innocence and the whole 'there's still good in the world' reflected in their eyes.

Dean took a swig of alcohol and wondered how long it would really be before they left the house; there was no way Sam was leaving without some sort of argument with their dad.

*Supernatural*

"I don't want you guys to go." Katie mumbled after a few minutes of silence. They had reached the edge of the property where Katie had told Sam she couldn't cross.

The youngest Winchester sighed quietly, "I really don't want to either." If he thought Katie as Socks was cool, for a cat of course, then Katie as a person was a lot better. She was someone Sam could easily be friends with and he was already dreading leaving her behind. He glanced at her, "Maybe...what if I stayed?"

"You said your dad-"

"I'm eighteen," Sam cut her off, "He's really not the boss of me anymore. I could stay and we can try to figure out the curses."

"There's only one curse Sam, I'm positive of that."

He shook his head, "I meant my family's curse and your's. The one how you can't leave the property." Sam would have laughed at Katie's open mouth if it hadn't been such a serious moment. "I know you said only the guy who put it on could take it off but maybe there's a loophole or another spell you can use to-"

The hunter was interrupted when the curly haired witch threw her arms around him happily, "That's the nicest, sweetest thing anyone's ever said Sam." Sam returned the hug and the two pulled apart, Sam beginning to plan out the upcoming argument he knew was coming.

*Supernatural*

John reached the bottom of the stairs, duffel in hand. When he found only Dean's things packed and set by the door he paused. Thinking Sam had taken his things to the cars early so he could sulk, John shrugged and put his bag next to Dean's along with the weapons bag. He made his way into the kitchen and found everyone sitting down at either the table or up on one of the counters.

"Where's your stuff, Sam?" John asked with a raised eyebrow. There's no way his son could have packed, taken his things to the car, and returned that quickly.

"In my room." Sam replied, already tensing slightly.

Crossing his arms John questioned, "And why's that?"

The youngest Winchester tapped his fingers lightly against the kitchen table, "Because I'm not leaving. I can help a lot more if I stay here and research-"

"This isn't up for debate, Samuel, you're leaving with me and your brother and that's final!" John's used to the defiance Sam's been displaying for years, but his son's never just outright refused to leave a place. Sure he's complained and whined for days but Sam's never openly told his father 'no', well not since he was a toddler anyway. "Now go upstairs and get your things."

"You're not the boss of me anymore, Dad, I'm eighteen and a legal adult!" Sam jumped up from the table and stands with his back stiff, fists clenched at his sides. "I'm _not_ leaving."

Dean cleared his throat and spoke up, "Dad, maybe Sammy can figure out what the hell's going on and how to fix it-"

"Sam if your ass isn't in the car in fifteen minutes I'll drag you out myself." John cut off his oldest son and stomped out of the kitchen with a huff.

The kitchen takes on a silent air until Katie says, "Well, that went well."

"Actually," Sam snorted, "It went better than when I tried to leave for Stanford." When he receives a blank look from her he explained, "It's a school." It strikes Sam that Katie still has no idea how big a deal Stanford is, or anything else really. She's probably never heard any of his favorite music or seen any of his favorite movies. "I'll fill you in later,"

Bobby ran a hand over his face and stood up from the table, "I'm gonna go try to talk some sense into your dad,"

"That's a losing battle Bobby."

Once the older man is out of the room Dean and Sam share a look. Katie glances between the two brothers and makes an excuse to leave so they can talk in private. "I'll call you if I find something." Sam eventually sighs, retaking his seat at the table.

"Or you can call when you don't have something." Dean took a drink of his beer and avoided his baby brother's eyes.

"It's not like I'll never talk to you guys again, Dean, I just think I'd be more useful here. I mean, yeah I can research hunts but that's all I really _like_ doing. And it's not even a permanent solution, man. Soon as we figure out everything-"

"What if you can't figure it out, what if there's no way to fix this?" Dean demanded, "I know you're not fully on board with hunting, you never have been, but it's almost like you're leaving us Sammy. Dad and I can't protect you if we're out there and you're here!"

Sam glared at his older brother as he half-shouted, "I'm eighteen Dean, I don't need you guys to protect me! Besides, I talked to Katie and this place is almost as warded as Bobby's, probably the second safest place we've ever been to! No one even knows about the house anyway. Quit your worrying dude."

Dean ran a hand over his face, letting out a deep breath. "I'm your brother, Sam, I'm always gonna worry."

The anger slipped out of Sam's system and he nudged Dean with his fist, "Yeah I know but...just tone it down Dean. I'll call everyday, okay?" There, a compromise.

The older brother nodded and swallowed, "Okay. Now, 'nough of this chick flick moment. Help me carry the crap to the car Sasquatch."

"Jerk."

*Supernatural*

Forty minutes later had Dean and John on the road. Twenty five minutes had been spent with the oldest and youngest Winchesters arguing, ending with both parties stomping off angrily. Dean had convinced John to leave his truck at the house in case Sam needed weapons, something John couldn't really say no to. Now, Dean was driving the Impala and John was sitting in the passenger seat.

The middle Winchester glanced at his father and wasn't too surprised to see the similarity between John and Sam. While they shared certain appearances, the way they held themselves was what always got Dean. Both men had an air of stubbornness and confidence that surrounded them and it had always amazed the older brother. Even the way John crossed his arms over his chest and glared out the passenger window reminded Dean of his brother.

John was less than happy about leaving his youngest son. Not only was he choosing to hang out with a _witch_ but he was disobeying direct orders from John. Bobby had agreed to stay for a little while longer since Caleb was supposed to stop by the Salvage Yard and check over things. They had kept the other hunters out of the loop on the Winchesters and Bobby's location, but Caleb was more than happy to help when Bobby called before he left to meet up with the small family. John hoped Sam and Bobby took care of themselves and was glad to hear Dean expected daily calls from his younger brother.

The father had told Dean to head to the nearest town so they could grab a newspaper and start searching for possible hunts. He didn't want to get too far away from East Tennessee where the house is, just in case.

John could tell Dean wasn't exactly happy about leaving his brother behind, but knew Dean was just glad they weren't permanently losing Sam. Besides, it wasn't like Sam was the only hunter there.

He wasn't sure what had made him give up the fight with his youngest in the first place. John just had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him he wasn't going to win this one. He snorted, _Pick your battles Winchester._ Ignoring the raised eyebrow from Dean John attempted to get comfortable and closed his eyes, deciding a short nap was in order. Maybe sleep would give him a rest from reality for a little while.

**A/N: Okay, huge thanks to SPN Mum for practically giving me this idea and letting me roll with it. I was pretty stuck but now I'm back in the game. Like what I said in the last chapter, updates won't be weekly but will be whenever I get them written out. And like always reviews are welcomed.**

**And I also apologize for no wolf!Winchesters... I promise on my dignity as a writer there shall be wolf!Sam in the next chapter since him and Katie are gonna have some free time.  
**


	17. Chapter 17

**Because I ****promised**** on my dignity as a writer that there would be wolf!Sam in this chapter, you guys are in for a longer chapter than the last couple have been-not by much, though.**

For once, Sam was sick of researching. The past week had been spent pouring through book after book with Katie and Bobby. The older hunter had left earlier that morning for South Dakota, telling the two he would return in a week with some more books from his personal library and libraries from some of his contacts.

He stretched his arms above his head and stood up, shaking his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes. Sam let out an annoyed huff, causing his bangs to shift. The hunter could almost hear Dean telling him to get a hair cut.

So far neither brother had missed a phone call. Sam usually called his brother around eight a.m. after he found out Dean and John were sticking to the eastern United States for a while. It was almost the perfect time to call. Nightly calls were bad because that's when hunters did their grave digging, killing, and general snooping. Time between late morning and evening was used for interviews, research, and appointments. The Winchester family was always up at six in the morning, then they ate breakfast, then they did training for about an hour. Calling at eight gave Dean time to grab a shower.

"Hope my dad doesn't find out Bobby left." Sam yawned, casting a glance at Katie who was sitting across from him at the kitchen table. Today her curly hair was tied up with a black ribbon and she wore a simple pair of jeans and an old t-shirt. Sam had discovered that Katie had about two weeks worth of clothes before she had to wash them again, which she explained was done in a creek that barely ran at the edge of the property and by a little bit of her magic. She gave him an example, but he didn't like the idea of washing his clothes in a place where animals urinated and bathed themselves. Katie was quick to tell him, after he gave her a questioningly horrified look, that, no, she did _not_ bathe in a river. Sam promised that he would wash their clothes at the laundry mat in town.

"He'll probably flip out." she agreed, dog-earring a page in the book and shutting it. The books they had been looking through over the past two days were from the local library and were theirs for the next two weeks. Katie gave him a look, "So don't tell Dean."

"God, I'm so tired of reading and taking notes."

"Break time." Katie grinned, pushing the book away from her and jumping out of her seat, "So what do you want to do? I vote we get out of the house for a while."

Sam nodded and the two left through the front door, finding a spot in the front yard and sitting down. "How do you keep yourself occupied here?" Sam eventually asked, gripping a piece of grass and gently shredding the blade in his hand. "There's really nothing to do." He loved vacations as much as the next guy, but Sam wasn't sure how someone could stay sane when their vacation was permanent rather than temporary.

"You get used to it." Katie shrugged, leaning back in the grass so she was looking up at the sky. "You have to remember that I came from a time when telephones and those picture boxes-"

"Televisions." Sam corrected with a genuine laugh. Cortez had filled Katie in on a lot of things, but she'd never grasped some concepts.

"That still blows my mind. So these pictures move?"

The youngest Winchester nodded, "We might be able to convince Bobby into bringing down one of those small portable TVs, just so you can see it for yourself."

"Anyway," she continued, "We spent all of our time outdoors, having to amuse ourselves. Of course I have magic to entertain me for a while, but even that gets boring sometimes. Don't get me wrong, there's only so much you can do here for so long." Katie hesitated before continuing, "We could work on your shifting if you want...I mean, if you're going to figure all this out you probably need to know as much about it as you can right?"

"You've got a point." Sam grinned as they both stood up. To be honest he was a little nervous; turning into some kind of wolf wasn't exactly on the average eighteen year old's agenda. Then again neither was hunting supernatural creatures.

Katie crossed her arms and took a step back, not wanting to be too close if he shifted and ended up knocking her over. "Okay, so when I helped Dean out it was basically the same concept as my transformation. Since you've never done this before-you haven't have you?" Once he shook his head in a negative she picked up where she left off, "You might not get it the first couple of times so don't get discouraged. It took me a few days to get where I wanted to be and a cat is much smaller than a wolf."

"So what do I do first?"

"Well, there are really a few ways we can do this. The first we aren't going to do. If you're put in enough pain your instincts will kick in and you'll shift quickly. Option number two; I can help you pull down a mental barrier and you will be able to access your shifting at will. The last option is kind of like going to this mental place in your mind and imagining your transformation.

"Obviously number two would be the best out of the three. That way it can happen any time you want it. The other two ways take either concentration or raw instinct." Katie paused, "Sam, if we do this you have to stay calm. I have to enter your mind and tear down a wall that you have subconsciously put there."

"But Dean had no trouble when we found out you were-"

"He was a bit of a special case, Sam. His emotions were running high and he was probably pumped full of adrenaline from suddenly waking up and finding out Socks was actually a person instead of a cat. The adrenaline kind of teamed up with the instinct part of his brain and helped him turn out of instinct."

Sam nodded and tossed his hair out of his eyes, "So you're going to break into my brain?"

Katie laughed and shook her head, "No, of course not. I'm going to...walk through while you happily open the doors, sneak around until I find what I'm looking for, and then I'll be helping you pull the barrier down. None of that will be too hard, though. The tricky part is getting out before your mind shuts down."

"Wait, what?"

All amusement vanished from the witch as she explained, "Three hours after that wall comes down you're going to be in a bit of a permanent sleep, but I promise it won't last longer than three hours. Like you said, quite bluntly I might add, it'll be like I'm 'breaking into' your head. Your brain is going to pick me up as a threat Sam and I have to try not to get shut into your head before the three hours are up."

He swallowed and asked, "What happens if you don't make it in time?"

"Let's just say the consequences for both of us start at the end of the third hour." Sam gave her a look and she rolled her eyes, continuing, "It'll become harder for me to get out and we'll both most likely stay in a sleep-like state unless I can get out."

The youngest Winchester ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair and took a deep breath. "And that's the _safest_ route we have?"

"Hey, I know what I'm doing here. I have been practicing on any animals stupid enough to come this way and so far my best time is an hour and a half."

"I thought they shied away because of that whole magic sensing thing?"

"Like I said, some animals are stupid enough to ignore their sixth senses or they just don't have any." Katie paused, "I'm just preparing you, Sam. I don't want to be in your head anymore than you want me there."

Sam ran a hand over his face nervously.

The witch laid a gently hand on his shoulder, "Hey, Sam, we don't have to do this now. You can think it over-"

"No," he shook his head quickly, "We should get it over as soon as possible. Whenever you're ready."

Katie retracted her hand and rolled her eyes, "Fine, whatever. Lay down, close your eyes, and try to relax." Sam did as he was told, lying down on his back and crossing his ankles. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to will his muscles to relax. He heard shuffling on his left and figured Katie was sitting down beside him. "Okay, I'm going to put my hand on your forehead, remember to stay as calm as possible Sam." He gave a quick nod, thankful for her giving a quick play-by-play instead of just doing the actions without warning. Sam had been to several doctors over the years who never told him what was going on, just went about their business without telling him.

Sam barely flinched when Katie's hand landed softly on his forehead. He forced himself to relax, starting with his legs and working up from there. Eventually Sam felt comfortable. He could almost pretend he was going to sleep, except for the part where someone was touching his forehead, a little stick was poking him in the side, he was preparing to turn into a friggin' dog, and there was a chance he would be put into some kind of coma if Katie messed up-

"Ow!" he half-shouted as a spike of pain shot through his head. Sam's first reaction was to use his hand to reach for his head but Katie's other arm grabbed him and pushed the limb back to the ground.

"Calm, remember?" she said and Sam could just picture the smile on her face. "Your outer wall is a little stronger than I thought, I'll be more careful."

After that Sam continued to prepare himself for any kind of pain but it never came. He held back the urge to yawn and absently plucked at the grass under his hands.

"You can open your eyes now." Katie told him and he responded instantly. He saw the witch in his peripheral vision, but above him wasn't the blue sky he had originally been under. Now, there was a large tan ceiling with lights hanging below it. Jerking up, Sam almost hit his head against Katie's but luckily for both of them she jumped out of the way in time.

The house, grass, and trees were all gone, Sam noticed as he examined the area. Instead there were rows and rows of book cases and a couple of tables. "Are we in a library?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Katie nodded, standing and holding out a hand to help him up. Once Sam was on his feet she explained, "This is basically how your brain is specifically set up. I'm sure your brother will tease you about this later." Katie gave him a cheeky smile and began walking towards the nearest bookshelf.

Sam followed her, looking at the shelf they approached. Books of different sizes and colors lined the shelves, but they weren't labeled in any way. He reached out to take one of the books but Katie slapped his hand away.

"Sam, you can't just go around poking and prodding." she scolded as he pushed his hands into his pockets. "This is your _mind_ for goodness sake! Who knows what you could mess up if you just went browsing through everything!"

He raised an eyebrow, curious, "Then how do you expect to find what you're looking for? I thought you were looking for barriers and walls."

"I am." she told him simply, leading him further down the aisle of shelves, "You're thinking too literal Sam, think-" she stopped walking and cut herself off in the same instant, tilting her head to the side as if she'd heard something.

The youngest Winchester held his breath, listening. He could just barely make out the sound of a bird cawing. "How did a bird get into the library?" he whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" Katie replied, shaking herself and continuing forward.

"We're in a library."

"So?"

_Right. She's never been to a library._ Sam told himself, "You're supposed to be quiet in libraries so you don't disturb the other people."

Katie nodded thoughtfully, turning as they reached the end of the aisle. "We're not really in a library, Sam. That bird we heard? It's in the real world. We're still there at the house physically but mentally we're just breaching your mind. It'll get more complex as we go."

"I still don't know what we're looking for." Sam sighed as they continued to go through the aisles.

"I'll know it when I see it. Your brain is much deeper than the animals I've been practicing on, their walls were made of tree bark and twigs and their walls were literal and put there on basic instinct. Your walls, Sam, shouldn't be actual walls because you're human. Being human makes you over think everything not to mention your subconscious-"

"You sound like a psychologist."

Katie threw a grin over her shoulder, "That's because Cortez brought me a psychology book. It helped a lot with the whole mind walking thing."

Sam rolled his eyes and couldn't help but grin. When a black shape ran past him in his peripheral vision the grin fell and he spun his head around. "Katie did you see that?"

The witch stopped and followed his line of sight, shaking her head. "I didn't see anything...what was it?"

"Some kind of shadow or something, I dunno. It was too fast."

Silence filled the library and Sam found it was kind of creepy. There were no air conditioners running, no librarians going through the aisles and replacing books here and there, no people searching for a book of their interest.

"Let's keep moving," Katie and Sam said in unison. If it hadn't been a tense moment Sam knew he probably would have laughed. They began walking forward again but this time it was at a quicker pace than it had been only moments ago.

As they made their way through the library, they saw the shadow a dozen more times. Each time one of the two would attempt to point it out but it was always too quick. "What the hell is it?" he finally half-shouted, getting fed up with the mysterious shadow.

"Could be anything, Sam." Katie sighed, eyes glancing around for any signs of trouble. "For all we know it's just your mind playing tricks on us. The mind isn't some Rubid Cube-"

"Rubik's Cube."

"Right. It isn't some play thing that can be solved given the time and effort. Besides, every mind is different and works in hundreds of different ways."

Sam snorted, "You really have been reading psychology books."

"When you're stuck in one place for-found it." Katie made a sharp turn and Sam stumbled to follow her. He was going to ask what she had found when his eyes landed on a large white and brown wolf with one light brown eye and one bright blue eye lying on the ground.

"So this is my wall?" Sam swallowed as the wolf stood up from it's position on the floor and growled lowly.

Katie hesitated, "I don't think so. If it was it would have attacked me by now. Remember, _I'm_ the threat here." The girl then took on an overly-friendly tone, "Come here, come on." Sam took a step towards her and she rolled her eyes, "Not _you,_ Sam. The dog."

"Oh," he felt his face redden as he smiled sheepishly. Sam returned to his place and watched as Katie began walking towards the animal. "What are you doing? It's going to attack you-"

"No it won't. Besides, if I do get attacked by anything the worst it can do is throw me out of your on, I'm not going to hurt you." she continued, bending her knees and stopping a couple of feet away from the wolf. The growling stopped and the wolf slowly trudged forward, cautious. When it was close enough Katie began gently scratching it's head, "That's a good boy. Sam here says you're all vicious but you're not, huh?" The wolf lied back down and allowed Katie to scratch away between it's ears. "Sam Winchester, meet the wolf version of you."

Suddenly feeling like he was being watched, Sam looked over his shoulders to see a dark shadow standing about ten feet away from him. "Katie!" he grabbed her attention, turning his body and walking backwards towards the wolf and the witch.

"That's got to be your wall." she replied, standing up. As the shadow took a step towards them Katie cursed loudly, "Why the hell didn't you tell me you'd had contact with a demon Sam?"

**So Katie's character is a little more revealed here, personality wise I mean. **

**Oh, and now we discover Sam's wall has something to do with demons.**

**I don't remember who it was that wanted to know about Sam's eye color (one eye is lighter while the other is darker) but you can see it carries over to his wolf form, too. Explanations coming up next chapter for sure. **


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I don't own what you recognize**

"So when do you get off?" Dean asked the young waitress, giving her a smile. John rolled his eyes and cleared his throat, making the girl jump and Dean send him an annoyed look.

"Check please." John demanded evenly. The blond waitress walked away, looking over her shoulder at Dean who now had his attention on his father.

"Come on Dad, you're worse than Sammy."

"We're on a hunt, Dean, which means you need to be focused on the job not some girl." John ran a hand over his face. He was actually a little reluctant to go on the hunt Dean had come across in Knoxville, Tennessee. Dean was still changing in his sleep and John was just waiting for a shift to happen during the day. He himself hadn't shifted yet, but he knew it was only a matter of time.

Dean pulled out his cell phone and checked for any messages. It was about six o'clock in the evening, which meant he shouldn't be expecting any calls from Sam until the next morning. He was constantly checking his phone, though, just in case Sam _did_ call because of an emergency or something.

"There's this neat thing called 'ringing'," John said, "It happens when someone calls you." He hadn't talked to his youngest son, but received updates from Dean. "Guess we need to have the focus chat again, Ace."

"I'm focused." Dean muttered, putting the phone away sheepishly. Eventually the waitress returned with the check and John paid before leading his son out to the Impala. Dean reluctantly allowed his father to drive, mostly because the last time he complained about it he got stuck cleaning all the weapons by himself twice.

John glanced at his watch after he pulled onto the road, "We'll head back to the motel, get ready, then head out to the graveyard to take care of the spirit."

"Yes sir."

*Supernatural*

"I'm a hunter, Kate," Sam said, a little irritated, "Of course I've met a few demons over the years-"

"One that's so powerful it's left traces in your _head_?" she returned, eyes never leaving the shadowy figure. "What have you guys been messing with?" As it got closer the wolf's hackles raised up and the growling intensified. "This is _not_ good."

"Wait," the youngest Winchester swallowed, "That's a demon? How is that even possible?"

Katie shook her head, "I don't think it's really a demon, more like...a demonic force you've come into contact with left this behind, whether intentional or not. If I'm right it's not really a demon, think of it as the flakes of one."

The shadow was way too close for either of their likings now. Sam began saying an exorcism, something he'd been taught to do for years now. As Sam got to the fifth or sixth word, the shadow faltered but didn't stop. The witch, the hunter, and the wolf backed up a few steps, putting some distance between them and the threat.

"Why isn't it working?" Katie questioned, confused and a little scared. "We might need to cut our trip a little short Sam then come back and deal with it." She grabbed his arm and closed her eyes.

Sam felt like he was spinning. One moment he was in the library-his mind, whatever-and the next he was staring up at the night sky. Katie was beside him, standing up now. "I thought the barriers would keep you locked in-"

"That won't happen unless I've already pulled them down, remember? You're kind of my boat getting in and out of your head. As long as you're with me we can leave at will. But when the barriers come down you and are going to be separated and I have to figure out my own way to leave."

"Were we really gone so long?" Sam asked in confusion.

Katie nodded, "Time's a bit different in your mind Sam."

She grabbed his arm and for a second Sam thought she was going to have them dive back into his mind, but instead she pulled him to his feet-something not very easy for a girl her size and a guy his size. "So what now?" Sam asked as they started towards the house.

"Now," she sighed, "We try to figure out what kind of demon left that shadow in your head."

*Supernatural*

Running around a fairly large city at night trying to track down a shape-shifter wasn't easy. Eventually the two Winchesters made their way into the sewer system and began looking for signs of the shape-shifter.

Flashlights and guns out, John and Dean were on high alert. The shape-shifter had already slipped through their hands a few times over the past two days and they weren't looking for repeat performances. The two hunters turned a corner and John stepped on something squishy that began leaking into his boots through a small hole in the toe.

"Damn it." He groaned quietly. John crouched down and used his gun to poke at the slimy remains of one of the shifter's skins. "Should be getting close," John said softly over his shoulder, receiving a nod from Dean who was carefully looking around for any threats.

The shape-shifter had been taking the places of people with higher power in the city. So far the mayor's wife, two bank managers, and the city's sheriff had been accused of robbing several different stores in the middle of the day. They were currently behind bars but there wasn't much the Winchesters could do about that. John and Dean were there to take care of the shape-shifter before anyone else got hurt, not to bail people out of jail-even if they didn't deserve the jail time.

John got back to his feet and the hunters resumed making their way through the sewers. After another half hour of searching and turning up empty handed, John heard a surprised shout from behind him.

Dean was on the ground, wrestling with a tall man with short red hair. The father lifted his gun and prepared to shoot but Dean and the 'shifter were struggling too much, every time John thought he had a shot Dean would end up getting in the way. Dean managed to pull out a silver knife from his jacket but the 'shifter grabbed Dean's hand and forced it to turn on Dean.

Not liking how the 'shifter was using Dean's knife against him, John ran over to the two and pulled the 'shifter off of his oldest son. He shot at the figure but it dodged and swept around a corner, running at full speed.

"Shit!" John cursed loudly, grabbing Dean's arm and pulling him to his feet.

"Should we split up?" Dean asked, rubbing at a spot on his chest where the knife had tore a small hole in his shirt.

John shook his head, "No, if we do that it could take on one of our faces and we'll just get ourselves killed."

Frustration shot through the oldest hunter. This sure was a slippery son of a bitch.

"Let's keep looking," John eventually said, "Maybe it'll try again."

Two hours passed before the shape-shifter made another move at the Winchesters. It jumped them as they were climbing out of the sewers. The night sky provided the perfect cover since the nearest street lamps were broken. Dean had climbed to the top and was halfway off the ladder when the 'shifter grabbed him, slamming him onto the ground beside the sewer hole entrance.

"Dean!" John shouted, hurrying up the ladder and leaving the hole in a matter of seconds. The father barely had any time to react before the shape-shifter had a handful of Dean's short hair and was beating his head into the ground.

*Supernatural*

**An Hour Earlier**

After a little poking and prodding Katie had convinced Sam how important it was for him to inform her about every encounter with demons he'd had. There had only been a handful, but Katie said none of them would have left a trace in the depths of his mind.

"Those are all the demons you've ever encountered?" she said, running a hand through her hair. The witch had asked the question several times but she still found the answer hard to believe.

"Yes, Katie." Sam said for the fifth time. "I'm _positive_."

She shook her head and pulled herself up onto the kitchen counter. Sam gave a groan of annoyance and left his spot from the kitchen table to get a drink from the cooler, glad Katie had put a spell on the box to fill itself with ice anytime it was low. "It just doesn't make sense," she sighed, "That was definitely a demonic presence. Has there been anything out of the ordinary happen to you?" When Sam gave her a 'duh' look she corrected herself, "Something out of the ordinary for _hunters_, I mean."

The Winchester popped open his soda and leaned his back against the counter at an angle he could see his friend at. "You can't really pinpoint 'out of the ordinary', Kate. I mean, there've been some messed up things happen to my family-"

"Let's start there then, Sam."

"All right. When I was six months old my mother was killed by some sort of yellow eyed man. According to Dad's story, she was on the ceiling with her stomach cut open." He paused before continuing, "Dean says he remembers the flames of the fire but they don't like to talk about it much more than that. Everything I know is because sometimes they drink a little too much-"

"_Yellow_ eyes?" Katie cut him off, at the moment not interested in the older Winchesters' alcoholic tendencies. She gave him a pointed look, "That doesn't strike as 'out of the ordinary' to you?" She jumped up off the counter, grabbed his arm, and pulled him out of the kitchen. Katie led Sam to a large empty bookshelf. Before Sam could ask what they were doing Katie pushed the bookshelf along the wall to reveal a large hole.

Sam raised his eyebrows, half in shock while the other half was leaning towards amusement. He found it hard to believe people really did have secret rooms hidden behind book cases.

They climbed through the hole and the hunter heard Katie mutter a couple words under her breath. Suddenly the room was lit by several torches-Sam had to hold back a snort at how medieval Katie could be-which allowed the two to view the room clearly. It highly reminded Sam of Bobby's study in Sioux Falls. Papers and parchment were scattered along the room, which was not much bigger than the size of an average living room, as well as tall piles of books, shelves that held bottles and pots full of random things, a small hand-made, wood desk, and a wooden stool positioned behind the desk.

"Cortez used to joke that this was my 'lair'. Something about comic book characters? I never completely understood his enjoyment of the things but it was amusing at times." Katie said with a small smile, walking into the room and hurrying over to the desk and shifting through a pile of paper. "You'll have to excuse the mess, I don't usually have guests."

Sam chuckled, "I'd think not, being in the middle of the woods and all." He observed the room for a few more moments while the witch continued to look around the desk, obviously searching for something. "What are you looking for?"

"It's a _very_ ancient journal." she replied, "Cortez gave it to me and it's at least a hundred years old."

"If you'd tell me what it looks like I can help you find it."

"Leather cover, cross carved into the middle of it." She left the desk and headed for one of the many piles of books in the room. Sam made his way to the nearest pile but stopped when Katie said, "Wait, Sam...you need to be very careful okay? Don't go poking around and reading anything. There are some things that were never meant to be read. Some of these books _I've_ never even read because of the titles. Magic can be very dark and I don't want you getting mixed into it."

Sam was torn between being annoyed at the over-protectiveness of his friend and warmed that she cared enough to warn him. "Promise I'll be careful."

It took a while to find the journal, but after some thorough searching the book was found between a bottle of 'Bird Toes' and a pot of 'European Nostril Hair', which led Sam to question their uses but received no answer.

The two were now sitting on the floor of Katie's 'Lair' and Katie was flipping through the pages carefully but quickly. Finally she came to a well worn page that went on to talk about '...the yellow eyed man has brought with him a town full of dead cattle and horrid storms...' Katie had also grabbed a thin book written in Latin which told of a yellow eyed demon and how it left signs behind, those signs including but not limited to: electrical storms, cow mutilations, odd behavior by red ants, and the dying of grass.

"Tomorrow you need to go into town," Katie told him eagerly, "And see if any of these signs happened in the town your mother died in. It's the only explanation I can think of that would have left that shadow in your mind."

Sam let out a breath. Eighteen years and the Winchesters had never known much information about the creature that killed Mary Winchester, but now they might have something to work with.

The witch's eagerness faded as she absently added, "Too bad I can't come with you." She let out a sad sigh but added, "Anyway, I think we're done with all the excitement for today."

He nodded in response, "I should probably call Dean." Sam and Katie left the Lair-with Katie extinguishing the lights with a snap-and Sam put in a call to his brother despite the late hour. When he got voice mail he wasn't too concerned see as Dean had told him he and John would be out after a shape-shifter that night. "Hey Dean, you really need to call me back as soon as you can." He hesitated before continuing, "It might be about Mom."

**Long A/N (Which I sincerely apologize for):**

**Sorry for delay. I've got summer homework that's due in about two weeks that I still need to finish so don't expect an update for **_**at least**_** the next several days. I'm going to focus on getting my schoolwork done **_**then**_** focus on writing...unlike what I did all of last school year.**

**So this chapter sort of gives the whole 'Hey, this is how the Winchesters found out it's a demon!' thing. I also want to apologize for saying how this chapter would explain Sam's eye color thing...unfortunately I didn't get to that. I **_**promise**_** it's coming up soon. I never realized how much I have to actually write out and I really need to stop promising things.**

**On that note, I honestly don't know how long this story is going to be. I'm still playing with ideas in my head and who knows what will end up being thought up as the story continues. As of now the place I'm planning to leave it off at will mean a sequel. But don't worry, at the moment I've still got many chapters to write and the ending **_**shouldn't**_** (as in it may happen but I highly doubt it) be coming up anytime soon.**

**As always, reviews welcomed.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I don't own what you recognize.**

**This chapter feels like it didn't flow very well, guess that's what I get for not working on this story in so long :P Sorry it's so short but I figured I owed you guys an update.  
**

Previously:"Dean!" John shouted, hurrying up the ladder and leaving the hole in a matter of seconds. The father barely had any time to react before the shape-shifter had a handful of Dean's short hair and was beating his head into the ground.

Now:

John felt like he'd been hit by a truck. His sides hurt and he had a headache the size of Texas. There was a quiet hum in the background that John couldn't place, which prompted him to open his eyes.

He was in a motel room, though it wasn't the one he and Dean had been in before. The wall paper had little cowboys in a pattern and the carpet was relatively clean. Confused, John tilted his head to the side to find Dean carefully stitching his forehead, using the bathroom mirror to see. A few curses later and Dean threw the needle down and returned to the bedroom. When his eyes found John's he seemed a little relieved.

"I was just about to wake you up, Dad. Two hour concussion check." Dean said, moving to his father's side. "How you feeling?"

Avoided the question, "How long've I been out?"

Dean shrugged and glanced at his watch, "It's four in the morning so a while." He had stayed up to wake his father every couple of hours in case John had a concussion.

John rolled his shoulders a bit but winced as pain shot through his side, "What the hell happened?"

Dean hesitated before saying, "I don't remember much except for getting my head banged into the ground and then...this big dog practically ripped the thing's head off."

It took a few moments for the words to register in John's mind. A big dog? That didn't make any sense-or did it? "You don't mean...?"

The middle Winchester nodded slowly, "You changed, Dad."

_Damn it,_ John thought to himself, closing his eyes. How was he supposed to ignore this curse when it over took him like that? He still didn't remember much about the hunt, but there were flashes here and there that came back to him. One particular memory involved a slightly painful feeling that felt like he was being crushed and then leaping through the air, though every sense was a bit heightened.

What the hell was he supposed to do now? Apparently John had spoken out loud because Dean said, "I think we should get back to Sam, Bobby, and Katie. Katie can help us use this Dad, it's an advantage we would have for once."

John ran a hand over his face and sighed heavily, "I'm gonna go grab a shower." He left the bed and picked up his duffel bag, leaving Dean in the main room staring after him.

Dean resisted the urge to call his dad back into the room and pulled his cell phone out, a flicker of worry fluttering through him when his phone tells him he has a new message. He puts the phone up to his ear and listens to the voicemail, shocked. Dean dialed his brother's number swiftly, putting the phone to his ear.

*Supernatural*

Sam and Katie were just sitting down to eat some breakfast when Sam's phone rang. He jumped up from the table and pulled it out of his pocket, flipping it open and putting it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Sam, what the hell are you talking about?" Dean's impatient voice carried through from the other end of the line.

Deciding not to mention the 'demonic presence' in his head, Sam jumped straight to the point. His dad and brother would probably grill him later and drag every detail from him but at least he could put it off until then. "Katie and I have a theory about what killed Mom. I need you to ask Dad if there were any cow mutilations, electrical storms, or dying grass back in Lawrence when she died."

"Don't forge the ants." Katie added around a mouthful of cereal.

"And if the ants were acting odd."

There was a small silence from Dean's end of the phone, "...Sammy, I highly doubt Dad's gonna remember any of those things."

"Well where is he? Why don't you just ask him?"

"He's in the shower and I don't think right now is the time to throw this on him. Look, I'll ask him okay? We'll be heading that way as soon as he gets out of the shower."

He sighed quietly before replying, "I'm going into town today to the library, I'll see what the news reports have to say." Sam was half-tempted to meet up with his family in Lawrence so they would have more local news resources.

"Dad and I can be there soon-"

"You guys in between hunts?" Not that Sam thought John and Dean wouldn't drop everything if Sam really did have a lead on the murderer of Mary Winchester.

"Just finished up last night."

Sam nodded, "All right, I'll see you guys later then."

The two brothers said a quick goodbye before Sam hung up his phone. He shoved it into his pocket and sat back down at the breakfast table. Last night had been spent pouring through some of Katie's other books in case there were any other mentions of the yellow-eyed-demon. They only stopped when Sam fell asleep and almost fell out of his chair.

What if they really had found a lead on what killed his and Dean's mother? What if the Winchesters could finally end this mad crusade John had started so many years ago?

_There's always another hunt_, Sam thought absently. Hunting had been a part of the Winchester life for eighteen years. He and Dean didn't really know much else. Of course, Sam could probably still go to college and Dean could get a job in a car repair shop. Hell, John could even find work at a car shop too. But old habits die hard. Sam wasn't sure Dean and John would just stop hunting... He, on the other hand, was completely prepared to give up the life when he first decided to go to college.

He snorted, _Yeah because that plan worked out so well._ Ignoring the look Katie gave him, Sam finished his cereal in silence. He had been so close to leaving the hunting life and then John had given him the ultimatum. Dean hadn't stepped up to defend him, just like always when it came to an argument between Sam and their father. Give Sam a school bully or some monster and Dean wouldn't hesitate to attack but against John Winchester...that was another story.

A small part of him childishly hoped that Dean and John would settle down if they did manage to kill this thing. Then he could go to college like he wanted, get a normal job and a normal life with friends he never had to worry about leaving.

Maybe he could try to revisit the college idea, even if his family keeps hunting. Not that anything would be qualified as normal again-his family could turn into wolves for crying out loud.

**A/N: Sorry for such a long wait, Junior year stinks.**

**I have two AP classes, an honors Spanish 2 class, a personal finance class, and an ACT prep class. Warning: updates will take some time as you can see by how long it's taken me to do this update I honestly have almost no free time. I'll write whenever I can, though. Obviously it took me almost two months just to get this chapter out so this story is most likely going to be on hiatus.**

**P.S.: the season 7 promo for Supernatural...I can't even explain how excited I am for this Friday!**


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